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Building Bridges - The Art of the Middle 8

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27/04/2013

BBC Radio 4 - Building Bridges - The Art of the Middle 8

Midge Ure explores the art and craft of the bridge, or middle 8, in popular songwriting.

4 Extra Debut. Midge Ure explores the art and craft of the bridge, or middle 8, in popular song from Mozart to McCartney. From 2013.

Midge Ure explores the art and the craft of the bridge, or middle 8, in popular song.

Think of A Day In The Life, Good Vibrations, We Can Work It Out, I'm Not In Love and Born To Run. Each of them features a clever middle section which builds musical tension.

It's not always in the middle and it's not always 8 bars in length, but its job is always to introduce a new element into the song, a new chord sequence or melody, a change in the arrangement or an instrumental solo.

Jazz pianist Neil Cowley traces its origins back to Mozart, musicologist Helen Caddick and journalist David Hepworth discuss the drama a good bridge can create, and songwriters Justin Currie and Boo Hewerdine demonstrate some of the most memorable examples and how they were composed.

Boo even composes a new middle 8 for a famous Bee Gees song which doesn't have one.

Produced by Trevor Dann
A TDC production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2013.

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