Works: Angel

About the song:

As the title suggests, this song depicts an angel coming down to earth. In the song, we see the angel’s sadness at the sinful things humans do, human’s realisation and the angel finally returning back to heaven.

Composer’s note:

In this song, we see the world through an angel’s eyes. Therefore it is peaceful throughout and although sin is depicted, there is no violent display using loud or dissonant chords. Although punishmnent may be expected when sin is mentioned, it is not depicted in this song, since this song depicts an angel which does not have God’s authority to punish. Unlike some songs, no part of this song is repeated, to show that humans can only live one life, and neither is there repetition of any part of a man’s life.

Music notes:

The starting of the song introduces the angel using high notes. The 7th note B, is heard almost immediately on the 2nd note. The song starts out soft, slow and peacefully to depict the angel in the sky slowly coming down to earth. To emphasize the slow floating movement, triplets are used to lengthen the notes. In the 8th bar, the minor key is brought in to depict sin and the angel’s sadness at human’s downfall. However, in the next few bars, it alternates between the major and minor to show that amidst chaos and sin, there is still hope. In the 20th bar, it’s a start of a new chapter when we see the angel’s bringing God’s message to human, and human’s realisation of their sins in the 24th bar. The pick up to the 28th bar shows human’s repentance. The diminished and minor key is used to show that even after repentance, humans still continue to make mistakes. The departure of the angel starts in the 35th bar, and in the 37th bar, running notes are used to show the angel’s flight back to heaven. The song end, again, with the 7th note B to add the feel of hope and sadness rolled into one. In the whole song, the use of the pedal is very prominent and important to create the floating and heavenly feel using the echoes of different notes and chords.

Angel, composed on 10th May 2007


Copyright © Rachel Kang S.Y. All rights reserved.