Research Topics: Dream Theater

Musical Description of “Lines in the Sand” (12:02)

Introduction   The musical piece Lines in the Sand is a 12:02 minutes masterpiece by the world renowned progressive rock-metal band Dream Theater. Lines in the Sand came from one of their early albums; specifically the album entitled Falling into Infinity, which was released in 1997. This paper will provide a complete musical description of the specific song. The source of the recording used for the analysis is the album “Falling into Infinity”. The song Lines in the Sand was played over and over for analysis using a CD player. Categories of the analysis include Rhythm   The song starts with a slow-paced tempo that can be distinguished as a moderato, something between 110 t0 120 beats per minute. The whole song has an interchange of 4/4, 3/4 and 2/4 time signature. The time signature from the beginning of the song up to 2:07 part is 4/4. This is followed by a 3/4 rhythmic pattern from 2:08 to 2:23 part of the song then shifts back again to 4/4. This is followed by a fast 6 note 16 beats pauses.             The stanza still carries the 120 bpm tempo and the 4/4 time signature. This also follows with the refrain and the chorus of the song. After a few choruses and when the song reaches 5:35, the song becomes slower and mellow; shifting into about 58 bpm, but the time signature remains 4/4. There was a brief guitar solo part and then vocals that serves as a bridge. In 8:46 part to 8:49, the tempo shifts to 3/4. This pattern was repeated in the 8:52 to 8:55 part of the song. After that last change of time signature, the song made way for the guitar solo which was only 4 musical bars long, then went again to the third interlude and then to the second rhythmic pattern of the intro. The song continued with 4/4 until the outro which had a couple of 3/4 patterns and a very fast 32 beat salvo of every instrument that led to the pause and end of the song. Combinations of 16 beats and 4 beats were often used as a rhythm combination. Pauses on the other hand were frequently two consecutive 8 beats and one 8 rest pause. There was also a fast combination of 9 notes in the speed of 16 bpm that ended in ad abrupt 16 rest pause.   Melodies                 In the intro part of the song, two instruments were playing a melody on the chord pattern of D/A, G, C, and then G again to F. The synthesized keyboard plays the chord part and then the guitar parts are solos over the on the C major scale. The second guitar, bass and the drum parts entered the song at 1:12. The vocals entered as 2:46. The stanza’s focus was on the bass and drums leaving the guitar parts and keyboards in the back. However, the volume of the guitar come back and becomes amplified in the refrain and the chorus parts. In the slowdown part of the song, percussion was briefly reduced to clapper sound with bluesy guitar solos on the background and the keyboard and bass serving as back-up rhythms.   Harmony             The focus of the song is on major scale, specifically on the C major, D major, G major and F, major. There were also minor chords used like the G minor and D minor. Texture               The texture of the song is basically homophonic as the melodies and harmonies are provided by different instruments. There are many melodic lines in the song like the second and third interlude, the stanzas, refrain and the chorus. Tone Color             The guitar parts in this song are either in the first and second octave of notes. On the other hand, the voice of the singer is high-pitched ala heavy metal octave vocals, which is almost tenor. The bass parts and drums are usually in the bass level. Dynamics             From the beginning to 1:12, the loudness of the song is mezzo-piano, and then shifts into the second interlude which is medium loud. In 2:03 part, the song becomes metal-like as the dynamics shift forte. There were also a couple of pauses on the third interlude that went as loud as fortissimo. The stanza has a medium loud ambience then shifts to forte again in the refrain and chorus part of the song. The slow-down in the middle of the song has a piano feeling and is the softest part of the song. The guitar solos however, were shifting from medium loud to loud. Motive             The theme of “Lines in the Sand” is a fusion of slow rock ballad and moderate metal rhythmic progressions. It can be noticed that Petrucci (the guitarist) did not frequently used any complex scales in this song, but only provided careful bluesy licks and several fast major scale playing. The aim of the song is basically not to be heavy and not be soft enough. It is a progressive song with upbeat tempos, bluesy guitar parts, synthesized keyboard parts and high-pitched vocals.   Development and Variation                 The song was developed as a progressive song that has elements of blues, power ballads, and metal. The variation in the song is countless, specially the guitar parts. On the other hand, the vocals follow the same pop music pattern. Form             The form of this song is not like any other. It is a progressive mixture of popular song form (mainly because of its verse-refrain-chorus-bridge pattern), blues, and pentatonic and major scale fusions (because of the guitar solos). The whole progressive form of the song is as follows: intro; verse; refrain; chorus; interlude; chorus; interlude; ad lib; bridge; interlude; verse; refrain; chorus; and outro. Genre             Dream Theater belongs in the progressive metal-rock genre and that reputation can be greatly reflected in this song. Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Musical Description of “Lines in the Sand” (12:02)

Introduction The musical piece Lines in the Sand is a 12:02 minutes masterpiece by the world renowned progressive r...