A classic example of syncopation is seen in Stravinsky's "Augurs of Spring" from The Rite of Spring. To achieve this, he begins with a series of identical chords in the strings--32 chords in all--moving in a strict and steady rhythm of quavers. To his series of chords he brings six sharp accents, produced by the sudden sound of 8 French horns. But the accents divide the 32 pulses not into any regular or predictable pattern, but into the highly irregular pattern of 9 2 6 3 4 5 and 3 counts.

A more modern example of Syncopated riff is seen in Taylor Swift's "Out of the Woods". Almost all the melodic material is syncopated, from the "Oh" in the intro...

To the melody in the verse...

To the one-note chorus (look at those accents!)...

Stevie Wonder's RnB hit "Superstition" makes you want to dance because of its syncopated keyboard

riff, starting on an anacrusis or 'upbeat'. The vocal melody also avoids emphasising the beat, by starting

on an 'off-beat' and/or emphasising normally weaker beats.

References:

http://www.edgreenmusic.org/Stravins-a.htm

http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/why-does-stevie-wonders-superstition-make-us-dance-782702

Suspense: Tonal Ambiguity

Straight off the bat, listeners are drawn into the mysterious mood of the song's introduction. The D-drone on the synthesiser doesn't give us any distinctive clues as to what tonality we're in.

This verse begins with the ii chord (e minor). The ii chord also happens to be the subdominant chord of b minor (the relative minor) - so we could be in B minor.

It's followed by D's IV chord (G major), which throws us off that B minor-ness.

But then that's followed by a B minor chord, then followed by the chord of D major.

As there is no cadence, listeners aren't sure what the 'home key' is: Is it B minor, or D major?

The next four bars seem to be setting up a cadence, with the appearance of an Asus4 chord, the first time we have a dominant-sounding chord...

But instead of resolving to D as expected from a Dominant Asus4, we get an E minor chord, a quasi-

plagal cadence.

The next eight bars of the verse have the same 'perfect cadence-less' progression.

Throughout the verse there is constant struggle between the major-minor tonalities that creates a sense of ambiguity. The lyrics of the song also reflect the sense of suspense. We as listeners don't know where HAIM is going to take us (fitting, as the song featured on their debut album).

Other songs with an Ambiguous Tonal Centre

HAIM isn't the only contemporary artist to create Tonal Ambiguity for an suspenseful/ethereal effect.

Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream":

With verses melodically centered around G minor, but chorus melodically in Bb major, the tonal centre is ambiguous. Using the same chords but changing the tonal centre of the melody throws listeners, adding to the song's sense of suspense.

Solange Knowles' "Cranes in the Sky":

Knowles achieves Tonal Ambiguity in her song through the use of chords with little to no relation to each other.

On top of these chords, Solange's melody floats above, without any strong tonal pull, adding to this sense of Tonal Ambguity.

If we go a few decades back, we see the use of Ambiguous Tonal Centres in the Prog-Rock hit Genesis' "Seven Stones"

Instead of having a disjunct between the Melodic tonal centre and Harmonic tonal centre, Genesis creates a sense of harmonic unease through harmonic shifts that resolve, but are then quickly undermined by foreign chords and chromatic joints.

They Might Be Giants, “Birdhouse in Your Soul”'s combination of modal borrowings, plagal cadences and a floating, almost monotonic melodic line create that sense of Tonal Ambiguity as well.

Going back a century we see the Franz Liszt's "Bagatelle sans tonalité" of 1885: Here we have an example of Tonal Ambiguity verging on Atonality (lack of a tonality, whereas Tonal Ambiguity is the existence of some sort of tonality).

The opening tritones give absolutely no clue as to what the tonality is, similar to how HAIM's E minor chord is ambiguous as to what tonality it belongs to. A chromatic mordent-like section centered around F follows - we only get the sense that it is centered around F because the turns start and end on F. The chromatic-ness smoothly segues to another area seemingly centered around D for the same reason.

References:

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2014/03/katy_perry_s_teenage_dream_explaining_the_hit_using_music_theory.html#lf_comment=149009609

https://chordify.net/chords/solange-cranes-in-the-sky-official-video-solangeknowlesmusic

http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/VOLUME15/Perception_tonal_centre.shtml

http://johndorhauer.com/4-for-iv-part-ii-iv-chords-tonal-ambiguity-modulation/

Further Analysis (Powerpoint)

Further Analysis Ppt

HAIM analysis Presentation.pptx

Here are 3 suggested activities to implement the compositional devices of syncopation and suspense:

Suggested Composition Activities

Composition

Suspenseful Soundscapes:

What makes music sound mysterious/suspenseful?

Explore the classroom (or go outside) to find and make sounds from the environment to make a suspenseful soundscape.

Perform it, record it, brainstorm a scene (or find a scene) that goes with it.

Ramp the Riff

On melodic instruments, teacher presents students with a melodic riff.

After learning the riff, student experiment with various 'clusters' and 'chords' to play underneath the riff.

Students choose one of those chords. Class performs, with teacher playing the riff and students playing their chord/cluster one by one for varying lengths.

HAIM that song: Garageband activity

This is a student-centred composition activity that should be conducted over several lessons, allowing students to refine drafts, and give and receive feedback. This activity should be scaffolded by preceding it with the 'Ramp the Riff' Activity.

Students sample a riff or melody from a song they know, by recording and isolating it on Garageband.

Students may make the sample more syncopated by shortening, lengthening or making it start on an offbeat.

Students experiment with and choose appropriate chords underneath it to make it 'suspenseful'.

Students can change the instrumentation and use effects (eg. distortion, reverb, delay, echo) to make it appropriate to the style of HAIM>

As an example, here's HAIM themselves making a cover of Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball.