The music

I've had some good feedback for some things I've posted on here that are all on the techie side of Adam's music like visualisations of runs / chords / harmonies, I figured it would be fun to make a thread where I could post these things and throw in analyses / sound clips for the musos and non-musos alike! I'll make another post to explain some of the terms I'll use for the latter.

First off I've broken down and written out some harmony arrangements from Trespassing so you can hear all the lines and how Adam weaves them together.

Nirvana
[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/nationalglampoon/nirvana-harmonies[/soundcloud]
i.imgur.com/Hjokb.png (large)
i.imgur.com/Hjokbl.png (small)

Broken English
[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/nationalglampoon/broken-english-harmonies[/soundcloud]
i.imgur.com/ngBKO.png (large)
i.imgur.com/ngBKOl.png (small)

This is the first chorus of Broken English, there are four parts:
Line 1: This is the lead vocal which spans D♭4 to E♭5, it isn't harmonised at all on the lines "and on and on and on I go, connect the neck to what's below, I know"
Line 2: This mostly harmonises the lead vocal up a third. It spans G4 to D♭5.
Line 3: This line is in a lower register, It mostly follows Line 2 down an octave. There are some big jumps where Adam goes down by almost an octave from A♭3 to hit a B♭2(7th note, also the bottom note of the "Shady" verses)! It spans B♭2 to D♭4.
Line 4: This is a very high line that sits mostly in the lower 5th octave(Top notes for most trained tenors!). It spans G4 to F5.

If someone were to arrange this for a traditional four-line choir setup, the first two and fourth lines would be best suited to higher alto or mezzo-soprano voices while the third would be given to a lower tenor or a baritone! But this is all Adam! :D Listen to the individual lines and try singing them along to the original song to hear for yourself how your voices harmonises with the others.

Outlaws of Love
[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/nationalglampoon/outlaws-of-love-harmony[/soundcloud]
i.imgur.com/hJoHs.png (large)
i.imgur.com/hJoHsl.png (small)

From the second chorus of Outlaws of Love, line 2 follows line 1 up a third mostly, but with some variations in the third and fourth bars like going up while the first line goes down, so it's more like two lines intertwining than simply a harmony. Notice the contrast in Adam's approach between the two lines, line 2 is sung in his "normal" voice while line 1 is sung in a lighter, softer, almost head voice-like tone. Try listening to line 1 and singing it when Adam sings line 2 on its own on the first chorus

Some runs!

Broken English (Wilkes-Barre)

4:21
i.imgur.com/7kEKe.png (large)


Translation by cassie:
"The first twelve notes (dots) are about as high as most pop guys can sing, and that might be sounding a bit strained. It is also about as long a musical phrase as they could sustain on one breath.

The fifteenth note (Eb5) would have most female alto singers straining to hit. Or most untrained females singers, period. Guys would have fallen out before that.

The sixteenth and seventeenth notes that are above all the horizontal lines ---- stratosphere for females, unheard of in full voice for males (except Adam Fuckin' Lambert)

The white note at the beginning of the second line represents a note held longer. That's where really good singers would have run out of breath and had to stop the riff. Not Adam Lambert. He keeps going.

As impressive as this run looks on paper and sounds live, it is less than half of Adam's total range from low note to high note.

Does that help at all?

No? Okay, condensed version: A highly trained female opera singer would be proud to perform that phrase in one breath."

Note: Adam goes for about 17 seconds, all without a breath!

Sleepwalker (Ste. Agathe)

4:32
i.imgur.com/lWsgd.png (large)


Adam usually hits just one F5 and/or G5 on this passage. Here there are EIGHT F5's and THREE G5's! Another passage a soprano would be proud to sing, all in full voice!

For Your Entertainment (iHeartRadio)

2:45
i.imgur.com/v1IHq.png (large)


From the third note, Adam scales up through his passagio in a shuffle rhythm, before hopping up a fourth (a.k.a. four degrees of the scale) to an E♭5, before trespassing into soprano territory in the third bar, climbing to a G♭5, raising to an A♭5 (above the bar lines!), dropping down and then skipping back up to a B♭5 (!!!) before trailing back down. B♭5 is what's known as the "Soprano B♭", well out of an alto's range and nearing a soprano's limit. And also Adam's highest note in full voice!

Never Close Our Eyes (Wilkes-Barre)

4:02
i.imgur.com/Z7fY8.png (large)


A request from cassie! An effortless 11 second run here. Top note is an E5 @ 4:06.[/spoiler]

Sure Fire Winners (Oslo)

1:48
i.imgur.com/psAPY.png (large)


Adam started doing this run around the mid-way point of the US leg of GNT to compensate for the rather *awkward* phrasing of the line on the studio version which made the climactic note(An A♭5 on the studio version, an F♯5 on live versions from the opening night of GNT onwards when he lowered the key) harder to hit. In the final bar Adam scales seamlessly through his passagio from an F♯4 up an octave to the climactic F♯5!

Feeling Good

2:35
i.imgur.com/o15dl.png (large)


This amazing run lingers over 12 seconds. The fourth note is a belted D5 ("feeLIII-") which he sustains for around 3 seconds before sliding up to an F5, and then gracefully backing off the volume and intensity on the run downwards before resolving gently on the tonic note, a G4.[/spoiler]

And some chord charts:
Nirvana
i.imgur.com/vBrFp.png
Shady
i.imgur.com/vgmIx.png
By The Rules
i.imgur.com/XuYLR.png
Cuckoo
i.imgur.com/wjxwB.png

And random tidbits:
Trespassing bassline
i.imgur.com/jct6d.png (large)


If there's anything in particular anyone wants to see let me know