Instrumentation and dynamics
Instrumentation
Killer Queen employs vocals, piano, electric guitars and drum, which were common instruments of the time and style.
In Killer Queen, four vocal parts - each sung by Freddie Mercury - and three guitar parts - performed by Brian May - are played at the same time. This is done in the recording studio by overdubbingA process where new sounds/ music are added to an existing recording.. This production technique was able to make the band sound as though it had more members than there actually was. It would be impossible to perform live with just the four band members.
Killer Queen has an extremely wide vocal rangeThe distance between the highest and lowest played notes. â Freddie Mercury sings over two octaveInterval of eight notes, eg middle C to the C above. from D above middle C, to a high F. This is achieved with the use of his falsettoThe upper range of a manâs voice. voice.
As the vocal melody leads into the chorus, Mercury's voice increases in pitch peaking, at the word 'queen' on a Bâ.
An extract from Killer Queen of Freddie Mercury singing at a falsetto vocal register
The percussionMusical instruments played by hitting with the hand or a beater, such as drums, cymbals and xylophones, or by shaking, such as rattles instruments - the triangle and wind chimes - are used alongside the drum kit on beat 1 of bar 29 and in bar 68. Both feature only once and with one strike as a way to attract attention before the voice enters.
Dynamics
Although the song is performed at a comfortable mezzo forteA dynamic level meaning to play moderately loud - can be shortened to mf. (mf) throughout, no dynamics are printed in the score.
Form and structure
Killer Queen follows a typical song structure for a pop or rock song. The structure is:
- introduction - bars 1 and 2
- verse 1 - bars 2 to 14
- chorus 1 - bars 15 to 22
- instrumental link - bars 23 to 26
- verse 2 - bars 27 to 38
- chorus 2 - bars 39 to 43
- guitar solo - bars 44 to 61
- verse 3 - bars 62 to 69
- chorus 3 - bars 70 to 78
- outro - from bar 79 until the end
It is common to find even phraseA short section of music, normally a melody, that could be thought of as a musical sentence. Phrases are like building blocks in music. lengths in popular music. However, the phrase length of the verse and chorus in Killer Queen isnât always evenly balanced. The verse is four bars followed by five bars with an extra 6/8 bar played between the two subsections. The chorus is five bars followed by three bars.
The guitar bases its solo from the vocal melody heard in the previous verses. Brian May develops extracts from each of Mercuryâs phrases with guitar pitch bendWhen the pitch played slightly rises or falls but returns to original pitch. and slide guitarA guitar technique often used in blues music. A glissando effect is achieved by sliding an object across the strings.. The guitar solos over the chords are heard in the verse, instrumental link and chorus.
Melody
After six introductory clicks in 12/8, Killer Queen begins with a vocal anacrusisAn upbeat.. The small phrases within the melody mostly move by step. However, there are leaps found between the end note of one phrase and beginning note of the next phrase.
A sequenceA pattern of musical notes that are repeated moving up or down the scale. is found in both the verse and chorus. In the example below, bar 13 is a third higher than bar 12. Another sequence follows in bar 21 as the vocal melody is repeated from bar 20, but is step lower.
word settingThe way music is written to match or emphasise syllables of words. is almost totally syllabicSinging one note per syllable.. Nonsense syllables, such as âoohsâ and âbahsâ are used throughout the song. This technique is called vocablesNonsense words and phrases in vocal music which have no defined meaning, eg .