Guide to the Analysis of Music Describe what you hear in this extract in terms of relevant: Musical features: such as (but not limited to) harmony, melody, and rhythm Structural features: such as (but not limited to) form, phrases, motifs and texture Contextual features: such as (but not limited to) style, time, culture, geography and history. STEP 1 – TIMELINE (Musical features) If no score is given, indicate time using minutes and seconds. If a score is given, indicate time using measure numbers from the score. 1. MEDIUM Voices or instruments or both Type of ensemble (quartet, orchestra, etc.) Orchestration – instruments assigned to various materials Division of parts – doubling Special effects – pizzicato, tremolo, harmonics, mutes, percussion, electronics 2. METER, TEMPO, RHYTHM Duple, Triple, Simple, Compound, Complex Multimetric – different time signatures in one line of music Non-metric – no meter Tempo – fast, slow, changes (use appropriate Italian words) Rhythm – prominence of rhythmic element (ex. running 16ths, triplets) 3. HARMONY Major, Minor, Modal, Whole-tone, Pentatonic Kinds of intervals Chords structure/progression Intervals of root movement Figured bass Emphasis on different scale degrees (I, IV, V) Diatonic or Chromatic Cadence structure 4. MELODY Prominence of melodic element General Qualities / Dimension Conjunct/Disjunct Range – narrow, wide, medium Contour – wave, ascending, descending, static Phrases – long continuous lines or short motivic fragments Ornamentation – embellishments, improvisation Dynamics Text and programmatic considerations Guide to Analysis of Music cont. 5. TEXTURE Monophonic – one melody line Homophonic – Melody with chordal accompaniment Chordal Homophony Sustained chord accompaniment Repeated chord accompaniment Arpeggiated accompaniment Polyphonic – Contrapuntal movement with two or more melodic lines Number of parts Degree of melodic independence Spacing of parts Voices of parts Imitation Hybrid – combinations of homophonic and polyphonic parts Special Effects – antiphonal, responsorial, instrumental/vocal effects STEP 2 – ANALYZE (Structural features) 6. FORM Basic Internal Structure Sectional – Binary, Ternary, Rondo, etc. Variation – Theme and Variation Developmental – Sonata Allegro Form Fugal – Fugue, Motet, Madrigal Through Composed Twelve Tone / Dodecaphonic Toccata, Prelude, Fantasy, Rhapsody Number and relationship of movements Time factors – total length / length of movements STEP 3 – ANALYZE (Contextual features) 7. CONTEXT Style/Genre Historical era Historical context Nationality / culture Sacred / Secular Socio / religious / political / economic implications
