POP BALLADS

Ballads tell stories Ballads have been around since the 15 th century. In those days a ballad was a long song with lots of verses which told a story (often sung by wandering minstrels)

Modern pop and rock ballads still tell stories, often they’re slow and sad and will be about love. Normally, the verses will have the same rhythm and melody but different lyrics. Rock ballads could use heavy drums, amplified guitars whereas a folk ballad could be just an acoustic guitar.

Emotional, slow ballads sung by girl and boy bands (like Spice Girls and Take That) were huge in 1990s pop.

STRUCTURE Most pop ballads have a Verse-Chorus structure Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus Middle8-Chorus-Chorus The verses have the same melody, but the lyrics change each time. The chorus normally stays the same and has a catchy tune. Songs will often finish with a CODA or an OUTRO (this is a completely different section which finishes the song nicely).

VOCAL TECHNIQUES A CAPELLA – singing with no instrumental backing VIBRATO – when singers vibrate up and down slightly in pitch. It makes the voice sound warmer and more expressive (opera singers use this a lot!) FALSETTO – when men make their voices go really high (like The Bee Gees, The Darkness or Justin Timberlake) PORTAMENTO – when a singer slides from one note to another RIFFING – when singers decorate and add bits to the tune. They often go up and down a scale at the end of a phrase, between sections or to finish the song. Singers who use riffing a lot include Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Christina Aguilera

SINGER-SONGWRITERS Singer-songwriters are artists who write and sing their own songs. They normally accompany themselves on the guitar or piano.

BOB DYLAN Bob Dylan’s most famous ballad is an anti-war song called ‘Blowing In The Wind’. The song is just vocals and acoustic guitar (giving it a folky feel).

ELTON JOHN Elton John has written lots of famous ballads (often accompanying himself on the piano). ‘Your Song’ was his first pop success. He also wrote ‘Candle In The Wind’ which was originally written about Marilyn Monroe. He re-write the lyrics to perform the song at Princess Diana’s funeral. He has influenced a lot of singer-songwriters.

MORE EXAMPLES OF POP BALLADS Take That – Back For Good (F major) Verse & ChorusI – ii – IV – V Biffy Clyro – Many Of Horror (C# major) VerseI – V – vi – V Pre-chorusiii – IV – iii – IV – V ChorusI – vi - IV Green Day – Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) (G major) VerseI – IV – V Pre-chorusvi – V – IV – I Chorusvi – I – vi – I – vi – V