Strategies

Strategies are recurrent structural patterns that combine the musical dimensions explored in previous chapters—key/tonality, harmony, melody, rhythm/meter, phrase structure, timbre, form—for structural or expressive effect. One set of strategies concerns the boundary between the first VCU (verse-chorus unit) and the second; here there often seems to be an effort to balance continuity and closure. Another set of strategies involves the IV chord, which is used in rather specific ways to achieve cadential effects. VCUs often reflect an overall trajectory of tension, either “middle-peaking” or “end-peaking,” through increased rhythmic density, phrasal irregularity, and emphasis of non-tonic harmonies. Other strategies may be used to shape the energetic or tensional trajectory of a song as a whole. Finally, shifts in scale or tonal center can contribute greatly to the expressive impact of a song.