The Sound of Philadelphia an extremely characteristic song in the movement of the disco beat movement. This upbeat funky tune came in during the time of motown in the 1970’s, and started a new genre of music. This Disco beat is classified or known specifically by the subdivided 4/4 meter on the drum set, in this song keeping the underlying beat and flow of the song going. Songs that came about during this disco beat don’t hesitate to build up, evident from the flow established from the beginning stanza.

In the beginning of the song, We hear several main instruments that are responsible for beat, and others that classify the melody. We hear a keyboard and a drum set that are establishing the beat or flow of the song, on top of the brass instruments that come in immediately to start the melody of this song. This song establishes a melody that is very iconic of the disco period. The range and contour of the melody help make this unique. The phrasing is constantly moving up and down every other beat in the sub-division. Another quality of the drum set that establishes the flow, is the off beat phrasing. The high hat symbol of the set is played on the off beat during every phrase making it very distinguishable. On top of the off-beat phrasing that we see from the drums, we hear the syncopation from every other note played in each phrase. This is where we see the timbres of 2 layers coming together for one function. Each of the different layers has the same speed, as the music moves through time as one piece.

A large part of the timbres of each layer in this song is the dynamics of each layer. As the musical message builds in the melody of the song, the volume of the playing dramatically increases, and swings from low to a pronounced high sound with  a noticeable gap. Generally we dont notice the punched or separated nature of the tune, since for the most part the melody presents a smoother tune while the refrains and beat are more punched. The saxophone blends the notes together when we hear the melody, except for the  call and response between the saxophones and brass instruments. Here we hear the alternation between the Three and One note phrases. Each of the phrases that we hear in this song during the call and response are responding to one another musically. We don’t hear and text in the song until the end when a group of singers comes in to sing the main tune, displaying the same call and response. Towards the end when the singers come in, we hear the call and response within their layer, as one sings the rhythm and the other responds with a melody.

We hear scales being played constantly and chords heavily repeated in this song. There is a scale played repeatedly in this song, that every instrument plays. We see this scale come in with the playing of the saxophone, and the response of the brass instruments. In the background we also hear the playing of the electric guitar and bongos to establish the rhythm. This pattern with the melody accompanied by the response of another instrument is maintained, and then interchanged throughout with different instruments taking turns in this spot. The timbres of each of the switches makes it harder to realize they are playing the same tune, and the transition helps block it as well. The response we see lays on the off beat in between the scales that are played.

At the end of the song, we hear repeated scales as we do throughout, but this time leading up and building up to the vocals. We hear whole notes being held which have a crescendo to them. The music intensifies as the vocals are added. We hear the saxophone belting notes and holding them when the vocals are sung, still holding the same sub-division of notes as the vocals are added. The vocals parallel the music at first, by not only singing the scales that are played, but adding text on top of that. This layer that is added signifies almost the climax of the song, bringing it to a conclusion.