Now that you have researched and written about your primary artist as well as discovered a major influence on their music, it is time to listen and analyze how the artists are similar.

Assuming you are very familiar with your primary artist, you should spend some time listening to their influence that you chose.

1. Listen to a playlist of the artist who influenced your primary artist.

2. Ask yourself the following questions as you listen:

• How are they similar / different?

• How are these two artists’ music related? How are they similar / different?

• Do they sing/rap about the same things in the same way?

• What distinctions can you make about each artist’s singing style? What defines it? What part of their style comes from the genre vs. their own style?

• Do their songs have the same feeling or mood?

• Do they use the same style of beats?

• Do they use the same instruments?

• Are they the same genre?

• Do they use similar chord progressions?

3. Write a paragraph comparing the two artists, their styles, song subjects, mood, instrumentation, genre, harmonic song structure (chord progressions), etc.

4. Be sure to use the titles of the songs that you are comparing.

Ways of Comparing Artists:

• Singing style (twang, vibrato, melisma)

• Subject matter (What they sing about)

• Beats (genre beats and feeling of beats)

• Instrumentation / Orchestration

• Mood

• Tempo

Example:

Analysis of Influence: In addition to mentioning Donny Hathaway in the song "Rehab," Amy Winehouse covered his "A Song for You," and broke down in tears as she finished. One can hear a his influence when comparing Winehouse's song "Tears Dry on Their Own" and his "This Christmas." The driving beats of the songs are very similar as is the singing style. Both start their verse melodies in the middle range and trail off into lower notes followed by climbing higher on the choruses. This is something both Winehouse and Hathaway do throughout their catalog. Both use a lot of vibrato at the end of their phrases and an abundance of melisma can be heard ornamenting notes in the style of soul, gospel and r 'n' b. There is also similar orchestration with brass providing counter-melodies, and woodwinds ornamentation. The overall sound that both artists use is the classic soul sound that came out of Motown and Stax records in the 1960s and 70s which include up-front driving drums, horns, and strings as well as soulful back-up singers reminiscent of a gospel choir.