Hey there everyone,
Here is another piano lesson for y'all to play with. It's relatively simple. Head on over to give Cardigan a listen.
One of the lessons in this tune is how powerful a motif can be. A motif is a musical idea that is thematic for the song. In Cardigan what we see is that every measure ends with three 1/16th notes. It's the first thing we hear leading into the song (called a pickup) and stays throughout the entire tune.
The other theme that we see is that during the verses and choruses the last three chords of the phrase are identical. The first chord in the chorus leads us into a bright major feeling, but maintains the rest of the chord progression. A great example on how a single change can alter the feeling of one section of music from another.
The second ending of the chorus is also the segway from the chorus into the bridge. The bridge is harmonically very similar to the second ending of the chorus, with the third chord shifted slightly. The second ending of the chorus also gets recycled as the outro of the song.
Another thing worth noting is that the left hand is constantly pulsing the beat. It maintains 1/4 notes all the way through the song. Watch for inversions, the motion in the left hand is designed for easy shifting between chords because a bass player is playing the root motion.
I think the lesson to take from this is that you can reinterpret passages of music to make them useful in other areas without repeating yourself verbatim.
You can download the sheet music here.
As always, take your time, enjoy the process and keep playing.
Christopher
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