Kate Bush Lessons 1-2

A Level Set Works
Kate Bush:
Hounds of Love
5th Studio Album 1985
Kate Bush: Hounds of Love

Set Tracks:
Cloudbusting
And Dream
of Sheep
Under Ice
Kate Bush - Background

Kate Bush was born in
Kent, in 1958. Her early
music came to the
attention of Dave
Gilmour (guitarist
with Pink Floyd) who
recommended her to the
record company EMI,
who signed Kate at 16.

The album uses a typically
wide range of additional
instruments and performers
Irish musicians Donal
Lunny (bouzouki), John
Sheahan (whistles) and
Liam OFlynn (uillean
pipes), the Medici String
Sextet, the Richard Hickox
Singers and classical
guitarist John Williams.

The first single release from
her first album Wuthering
Heights became a national
and international
success, bringing her first
(and so far only) UK number
1. She was also the first
British female artist to top
the UK album charts, with
Never for Ever

Her songs are often inspired by literary or historical sources, as
in Wuthering Heights, which is based on Emily Brontes novel.
Her musical roots and inspirations are similarly eclectic,
ranging through progressive rock, folk, ethnic styles,
electronica and classical forms. She also received training in
dance and mime, art-forms which she has used extensively in
her stage and video work.
Artists who have appeared on her albums include Elton John,
Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, David Gilmour, Nigel Kennedy and
Prince.

Hounds of Love (a concept album) was Kate Bushs fifth studio
album (released in 1985), and the second that she had produced. It
was recorded in her own studio, in the grounds of her home, as
studio fees for her previous albums had been very high.
The album features her as composer, performer and producer,
working with more or less complete control. Kate sings lead vocals
and plays piano and Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument
an early DIGITAL sampler/sequencer/synthesiser). Her brother Paddy
plays violin, balalaika and sings harmony vocals on Under Ice.
Other regular collaborators also appear Del Palmer (bass), Alan

Murphy (guitar) and Stuart Elliott and Charlie Morgan (drums).
Samplers/Synthesizers

Vinyl albums (and cassettes) were produced with two
sides, a physical division which is mirrored in the contrast
between the more up-tempo poppy songs of side one
(concluding with Cloudbusting) and the
more arty-related songs which make up side two, which
Bush has called The Ninth Wave
Kate Bush Performance Forces and

Their Handling
Two main elements are common to the three tracks here:

Kate Bushs distinctive voice The use of cutting-edge music technology, in
the form of the Fairlight CMI.
This instrument could not only sample and reproduce sounds, but could also
act as a sequencer and synthesiser as well.
Two tracks show her liking for instruments and combinations not normally
used in pop music:
A classical string sextet in Cloudbusting
The Irish folk instruments bouzouki and whistles in And Dream of Sheep.
Kate Bush Structure

All three songs here do contain some or all of the familiar
ingredients of popular song structure:
Verses
Refrains or choruses
Contrasting instrumental or bridge sections
Introductions and/or outros or codas.
However, the aesthetic here is far from the highly formalised 3minute pop song of the 1980s la Stock, Aitken and Waterman,
being closer in some respects to the pretensions of progressive
rock and in others to the narrative forms of musical theatre.
Set Tracks:
Cloudbusting
And Dream
of Sheep
Under Ice
HW
MRS HITT:
Listen to the Dream of
Sheepnoting any points of
interest relating to Mrs Hitt.
Complete the table for And
Dream of Sheep, for next
Fridays lesson.
And Dream of Sheep Kate

Bush
MRS HITT
Melody
Rhythm (Tempo Metre)
Structure
Harmony
Instrumentation
Texture
Tonality
Points of Interest
Cloudbusting Kate Bush

MRS HITT
Melody
Structure
Harmony
Instrumentation
Texture
Tonality
Points of Interest
Under Ice Kate Bush

MRS HITT
Melody
Structure
Harmony
Instrumentation
Texture
Tonality
Points of Interest
Listen to a selection of
these tracks and make
connections with Kate
Bush Hounds of Love
songs. Present your
research in a chart or in
prose. By 11/11
Lesson 2 And Dream of

Sheep
Lesson Objectives:
Learn about the key musical
features of And Dream of Sheep
Use MRS HITT to establish a
deeper understanding of
Structure, Texture and Tonality
in And Dream of Sheep
And Dream of Sheep Texture

As with most songs, the function of the texture is to support and
emphasise the melody and lyrics, creating a melody-dominated
homophony.
Focus very much on vocal line here:
Piano is more active/involved in verses wider ranging arpeggios and
some doubling of the vocals.
Chorus is accompanied by much plainer, mid-range block chords.
Tonic bass pedal (E) appears in several sections here (e.g. bars 812
and 1516).
And Dream of Sheep Tonality

Kate Bushs musical language is tonal, but not straightforwardly
diatonic and functional.
The tonality is always clear, but is often modally inflected in the
choice of chords and progressions.
There is little evidence of tonality being used to define structure here.
Verses in modal C minor.
Choruses in E major (relative major).
Ends (a little inconclusively) in E major.
And Dream of Sheep Harmony

Kate Bushs harmonic language is clearly based on the main
elements of the diatonic functional system.
Being musically self-taught, she does not feel constrained by
functional relationships and progressions:
Very few perfect cadences (the exception here is the
perfect cadence in
E major which closes the chorus section of
And Dream of Sheep)
Progressions based on primary chords are rare.
Much use of repeated chord sequences, usually
two or four bars in length.
Chord palate is widened by the use of added note
and extension chords, sus chords, and slash chords
And Dream of Sheep Melody

Melody Kate Bushs melodies are known for their free-flowing,
quirky, unpredictable nature. They tend to be constructed in
short phrases, not always equal in length, and can sound
improvised. Repetition is a key feature and larger intervals
(greater than a fifth) are often given some prominence
Verse opens with two rising fifths (which could be considered a
melodic sequence).
Chorus features oscillating minor third between B and G.
Coda/Outro uses a repeated figure:
Rising major sixth from the lower dominant (B)
Falls by step back to the starting note or to the tonic
Word-painting used on the final phrase they take me
deeper
Song finishes on an unresolved dominant note.
Kate Bush Performance Forces and

Their Handling
Dominated by the voice and piano textures reminiscent of ballads from early in Bushs
career.
Bouzouki (played by Irish musician Donal Lunny) adds decorating lines to verse 2 (bar 20)
and also plays in the second instrumental link section, and in the outro/coda.
Irish whistle (John Sheahan) is multi-tracked during the outro/coda. (It is said to have taken
three hours for the player to get the required degree of bend on notes during the
recording session.)
The piano style:
-More dramatic and involved during the verse, using a wider range of the
KeyboardVamped chords during the refrain.
A spoken vocal sample is used, in the style of the radio shipping forecast, rather similar to
some of the sonic objects in Pink Floyds Another Brick in The Wall
Another Brick In the Wall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR5ApYxkU-U
The Ronettes Walking in the Rain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBBys5TLxCI
Frank Zappa The Return of The Son of Monster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP_YxDdGni0
The Velvet Underground - Noise - THE OTHER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B9jFgYhuBs
And Dream of Sheep Rhythm,

Tempo and Metre
The pieces involve regular and planned changes of metre perhaps
showing the influence of progressive rock bands popular during Kate
Bushs formative years. Vocal lines contain frequent syncopations,
anticipations and retardation/suspensions (although not prepared in
the traditional manner). A sense of pulse is strong and rarely absent.
Slow ballad tempo (=80).
Mostly 4/4 metre, with 2/4 bars used to extend phrases at bars 11
and 32 and a 5/4 bar used for dramatic effect at bar 51.
Verse and chorus openings both use syncopation.
Vocal material often starts after the first beat of the bar.
Final vocal idea (outro/coda):
Has an anacrusis pick-up
Uses triplets, ties and Lombardic/Scotch Snap rhythms in the
last
five bars
Ends with a ritardando.
And Dream of Sheep Kate

Bush
MRS HITT
Melody
Rhythm
Structure
Harmony
Instrumentation
Texture
Tonality
Points of Interest
Listen to a selection of
these tracks and make
connections with Kate
Bush Hounds of Love
songs. Present your
research in a chart or in
prose. By 11/11

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A Level Set Works

5th Studio Album 1985

Kate Bush: Hounds of Love

Kate Bush - Background

Kate Bush - Background

Kate Bush - Background

Kate Bush - Background

Kate Bush: Hounds of Love

Other regular collaborators also appear Del Palmer (bass), Alan

Kate Bush: Hounds of Love

Kate Bush Performance Forces and

Two main elements are common to the three tracks here:

Kate Bush Structure

And Dream of Sheep Kate

Cloudbusting Kate Bush

Under Ice Kate Bush

Lesson 2 And Dream of

And Dream of Sheep Texture

And Dream of Sheep Tonality

And Dream of Sheep Harmony

And Dream of Sheep Melody

Kate Bush Performance Forces and

And Dream of Sheep Rhythm,

And Dream of Sheep Kate

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