Musical Analysis #1 Assignment
I tend to like music that have a good beat, rhythm, and flow along with good lyrics. I have chosen to do my musical analysis assignment on The Climb by Miley Cyrus. I have loved this song after watching the 2009 film Hannah Montana: The Movie with my daughter. I think the lyrics have an inspirational touch to it.
The Wikipedia website state this regarding the song: “”The Climb” is a song performed by American singer Miley Cyrus, for the 2009 film Hannah Montana: The Movie. The song was written by Jessi Alexander and Jon Mabe, and produced by John Shanks. It was released on March 5, 2009, as the lead single of the film’s soundtrack by Walt Disney Records. The song is a power ballad with lyrics that describe life as a difficult but rewarding journey. It is styled as a country pop ballad, and was Cyrus’ first solo song to be released to country radio. The instrumentation includes piano, guitar and violins.”
The tempo of this song is an andante type since it has a slow walking tempo. Throughout the song, there tends be a brief pause followed with a slight modulation of frequency with the instruments, which is a vibrato effect. It has a quadruple meter beat and an accelerando rhythm. The dynamics of the musical aspect gradually get louder, which is a crescendo dynamic. The melody seems to be a disjunct type, since Miley’s pitch gradually goes up for a portion of the lyrics and then slows down again, and then repeats this process again. I believe with the three instruments used in this song, they for most part have a homophonic texture since all three instruments and the singer’s voice will gradually increase in pitch, rhythm, speed. The most important aspect to this song is the lyrics, which are again, very inspirational. With all these musical elements tied together, I do really enjoy this song and enjoy listening to it every time I hear it.
Of course, there are very many different opinions on this song. Country Music Central grades this song with a “D-” and states the following: “ I believe Miley, if she approaches her music with a lot more maturity and perfection as Taylor Swift did in much of her material, could potentially be a powerful presence in the country world, but a song like this, cliche or not, effective or not, just doesn’t cut it.” Another review by ReviewStream has an opposite review of the following: “For starts, The Climb is a very mature feeling song. The video captures this perfectly. It isn’t about an upbeat dance scene or an intense storyline. It is literally just Miley Cyrus belting it out to a song that clearly means a lot to her.”
Here is a YouTube hyperlink to this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG2zyeVRcbs
MHPaukan 