[Music] one of the only things that ties together all of radiohead songs is ironically a lack of conformity although most of their songs will use an almost identical combination of instruments drums piano acoustic and electric guitars electronics in some form and occasionally strings each one feels completely unique fresh exploring new rhythms meters harmonies and most importantly new sounds the orchestration or the choice and the way the instruments are played and combined is the thing that gives each song its unique sound world and the best way of finding out how radiohead constructs these worlds is by
looking at the song that i think has one of the most distinctive uses of orchestration in their output a track which tom york described as the most beautiful thing they ever did how to disappear completely from kid a it begins with an exhalation a chord in strings appears with no context and no obvious sense of tonality at the bottom an octave d underpins the harmony sitting below a b e and f sharp in the middle of the texture may be suggesting a b minor or d major tonality but then on top we hear a jarring
micro tonal note in violins cutting through the tonal language of the chord that lies beneath it this is an a half sharp halfway between an a natural and an a sharp this chord is lost not rooted in any tonal or micro tonal centre we have no idea where the music is going next that is until we hear this [Music] the acoustic guitar introduces the key rhythmical and harmonic units of the song it marks out a compound duple time with two dotted quarter note beats in six eight this means the emphasis is placed on the first
of every three eighth notes but accents in the guitar part also create small pockets of syncopation giving it a folk inspired feel adding intimacy and warmth to the song the harmony begins with the d major 9 chord bringing out the d and f sharp in the string chord that continues above it and eventually moves into what is the true tonal center of the song f sharp minor this cues a soft cry in the electric guitar a key motif in the song which slides down from a high a to the f sharp below and underneath all
this the bass part calmly enters [Music] it plays a repeating pattern of dotted eighth notes acting as duplets against the dotted quarter note beats normally bass parts ground the meter and harmony but here it sits alongside the other parts existing in its own rhythmical world and always restating the same line whose notes often clash with the guitar and string harmony above it the bass part is not functioning in the way you'd expect it's acting as a melody the harmony in the guitar part continues to move back and forth between d major and f sharp minor
until tom york enters his first line moves between an f sharp and an a reinforcing the importance of these two notes and is also towards the lower end of his range this fits the harmony that's been established in the introduction but also matches the tone of the song so far every instrument apart from the top violins is playing in the middle or towards the low end of their ranges making the song feel muted at the start giving it somewhere to go the first verse continues with each of the musical cells carefully repeating themselves the bass
part walks on cellway plays his eighth note pattern on symbols with brushes and behind it all sits the same microtonal string chord [Music] one of the key things about orchestration is not just when to add something but also when to take something away by removing the string chord here it gives space for the song to open up to breathe and to move into the chorus accompanied now by a new repeating 16th note figure high up in the electric guitar as well as new harmony we've now moved into a major mixed with f sharp minor [Music]
but these are the only changes we still have exactly the same rhythm in the acoustic guitar even if the harmony is different and the bass and drum parts have also continued to play the same repeating patterns that is until verse 2 where finally the drum part drops on top of the more intricate drums the strings play sustained chords in the middle of the texture reinforcing key harmonies but also introducing a new non-diatonic note a g natural [Music] this note sits in between the two key pictures in the song f-sharp and a and adds harmonic uncertainty
[Music] as we then move into the chorus the string chords continue to grow becoming higher in the texture the electric guitar whispers out its pulsating line and we hear a new cascading seemingly random firing of notes in electronics again another independent line another musical cell that exists beyond the confines of the song in its own self-contained world the third verse marks a radical shift in the song [Music] we get a new melody that rises in pitch towards the higher end of york's range and the g naturals that added harmonic ambiguity before now feature heavily as
part of the d major based harmony the string writing also becomes busier and as it shifts back down into f sharp minor we hear an out of tune on matano that doubles the string lines [Music] creating a cluster of microtonal pitches at the top of the texture [Music] as we then move into the chorus these cluster chords continue rising higher creating a saturated texture [Applause] and after a brief dissipation of tension the music builds itself up again [Music] with york's vocal line eventually ascending to the top of its range imitating the descending minor third but
has been repeated so much by the electric guitar throughout york mimics the ethereal and diffuse sound of the guitar as counter melodies build up in the strings underneath [Music] but as the song feels like it's beginning to disappear into the distance we get a sudden shift in harmony into e major a completely new harmonic world [Music] the apparent stability of the song now breaks down entirely as meandering microtonal lines in strings and on maternal take over creating a haze of diffuse sound a world of dreams [Music] but the music is quickly brought into focus again
[Music] as we return to e major as the strings refined their tonal footing taking us back into reality this is a song constructed around simple musical building blocks a repeating bass line a simple drum pattern and mostly tonal harmony but through the use of different colors registers rhythms and timbres it turns radiohead's how to disappear completely into a masterpiece in orchestration thank you so much for watching i'm having so much fun putting these together and i really hope you're enjoying watching them if you like this one do take a look at my analysis of radiohead's
pyramid song linked here and subscribe to my channel if you've not already done so also if you'd like to support my channel take a look at my patreon account where you can get early access to my videos and behind the scenes content see you next time
