Enjoy Bridging

I enjoy listening to songs. And when I say I listen, I listen and observe. We all love music; listening to it most of the times, but how well do you know about what you’re listening to? I didn’t focus the issue to only the meaning of song lyrics; it’s actually the elements of the lyrics that I’m talking about.

Whether you realize it or not these are the elements of a song, a normal one.

- Intro
- Verse
- Chorus
- Bridge
- Outro

Intro is no doubt the introductory of a song; usually a paragraph consists of four lines or depends. Then the paragraph of verse comes second. Verse will gradually increase the thrill in listening. Whilst all of you know the meaning of chorus; the part which is potentially repeated several times throughout the song and outro; the paragraph towards the end of the song, so what on Earth is bridge? Bridge is the part of the song that’s nothing like the other parts; intro, verse, chorus, outro.

Intro usually has a slow rhythm pace. It may elicit the trace of its own uniqueness. As intro is considered the most vital part of a song (for it determines whether or not 1st-time listener would further listening to it or simply press the ‘next’ button on the mp3). It sometimes could extract the outline of mysterious, longing, melodramatic as well as ecstatic.

When we talk about verse, there is a possibility that more than 1 verse is composed (usually 2). Since verse is typically recited likely before chorus, even if there are 3 verses (particularly 3 times chorus repetition), more often than not its melody is the same even though the lyrics are different.

Come to the chorus: melody-wise, rhythm-wise, harmony-wise all are set to its peak. That’s why most people unknowingly favored singing the chorus part in shower.

Here comes the bridge. If it’s the first time this has crossed your mind, as I said earlier bridge holds different mood compare to other part and what makes it special is it will only be recited once and no same melody or note or line is used again. The significant of a bridge is that it would draw listeners to get a grasp that the climax of a song in just around the corner. Which part is the climax? Of course it’s the chorus part. The same line recited but with slightly higher notes.

Outro is where the rhythm gets slow again as to reach the end of the song. Some songs emphasize it with instruments exaggeration (especially jazz or R&B), some may just repeat some lines of the intro.

So what do you anticipate when listening to a song? What do I anticipate when listening to a song; any at all is its bridge. I’m always looking forward to each bridge for it gives some sort of different dimension of the song. But there are songs without bridge. YUI for example, most of her songs are plain verse-chorus form. Still I love listening to her music. But what thrills me recently is that I figured out one of her songs which its original version has no bridge, when it’s sung in acoustic version the bridge is there! It’s the song ‘Goodbye days’.

So up until this part we all know songs have a fundamental element that is repetition. But have you ever noticed any songs without repetition? I mean even though the verse and chorus parts are sang using the same melody or music, but from the beginning until the end, none of the lines are the same; not even the chorus. And FYI there is. It’s called ‘through-composed’ music. For example the song ‘Watashi Kagami’ by Yasuda Shouta (one of the Kanjani 8 members). Yassu is well-known in his band as a guy who enjoys writing lyrics, that’s why he could compose such a long lyrics that made up this 5 minutes song of his; Intro to outro without repetition!

Yassu!

Anyways, I’m enjoying bridging.

Ps: can read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_structure_(popular_music)