The work Thousand Years by Christina Perri is sappy, melodramatic and it speaks to the listeners’ heart. It is a simple pop song with an instrument rich arrangement. The work Thousand Years proves that grand string and piano orchestration that until now has not had a place in the pop music scene, does go well with pop music, which makes it the unique song it is. Dynamics play a major role in the expression of this work in both the string section and instrumental. The Intro and the first verse are played at a mezzo piano level, which gradually crescendo’s to forte as the chorus approaches and commences. This gives the song a gradual rising tension which hooks the listener making them stop to listen knowing there is more to come. It is an elemental technique, which is a necessity for pop music.
The Piano plays blocks cords during the intro, which plays a rhythmic value of one crotchet note per cord and the cello plays the same rhythmic pattern on the root note of each cord. This cello adds a very somber timbre to the beginning of the work. The acoustic guitar commences at the start of the verse with broken cords, which add another layer of sound building the dynamic level. At the commencement of the verse the piano then holds each cord one semibreve in length, this makes the work feel slower and less frantic which allows the listener to take note of the lyrics. The song is in B flat major but often uses its relative minor cord G within the cord progression, which allows the work to portray the idea of sadness.
In the verse the vocal part sings descending lines in stepwise motions. Instead of raising her voice to a huge chorus she lets her voice descend again after the build up, letting the backing instruments speak. The effect this creates is making the listener feel that the singer is speaking to them through song.
The rhythmic patterns are simple throughout the work, containing mainly semibreves, minims, crotchets, and few quavers. This allows the singer time to project and add vibrato to her voice. This makes it the song sound slower which is a common technique used ballads in conjuction with the vibrarto used in
