A Simple Method for Musical Analisys
Since I finished my composition studies at Peru's National Conservatory I've felt the constant need to widen my knowledge reading more and more music written by The Masters. Here are the steps I use to extract the most from their scores:
1. Notate every chord. Writing down every chord's roman numerals and inversions makes you read every note of the score, which gives you a deeper knowledge of the piece. If you're reading contemporary classical music, use set theory to notate the chords.
2. Divide the piece in sections. Write signs for the principal sections of the music according to its form (sonata, rondó, minuet, etc). If you're dealing with contemporary classical music, look for places where the music "breaths" or changes the materials it is working on. Devide large sections into smaller ones, until you have sectiones of max. 8 measures.
3. Work on the first smaller section you got. Focus on melodic issues. Write down 3 things you find remarkable about how the melodic lines of this music were written. Avoid general statements. Instead, focus on particularities of the music. One you`ve finished, apply the same procedure on rhythmic issues. Then, do the same on harmonic issues. When finished, move on to the next section, and so on until you've done the hole piece (or movement).
4. Try to answer this questions: what was the composer trying to express? What musical means did he use to achieve it? It might be useful to imagine the music as a theather piece, or a movie.
If you're performing an orchestral analysis, you can add instrumental and orchestral issues to stept 3. If you have little experience and want to study contemporary classical music, I strongy recommend you to study beethoven's piano sonatas first. Once you've studied them all, you'll be ready to analyze anything!
This method helped me a great deal! Hope this helps someone else too. If so, please let me know!
1. Notate every chord. Writing down every chord's roman numerals and inversions makes you read every note of the score, which gives you a deeper knowledge of the piece. If you're reading contemporary classical music, use set theory to notate the chords.
2. Divide the piece in sections. Write signs for the principal sections of the music according to its form (sonata, rondó, minuet, etc). If you're dealing with contemporary classical music, look for places where the music "breaths" or changes the materials it is working on. Devide large sections into smaller ones, until you have sectiones of max. 8 measures.
3. Work on the first smaller section you got. Focus on melodic issues. Write down 3 things you find remarkable about how the melodic lines of this music were written. Avoid general statements. Instead, focus on particularities of the music. One you`ve finished, apply the same procedure on rhythmic issues. Then, do the same on harmonic issues. When finished, move on to the next section, and so on until you've done the hole piece (or movement).
4. Try to answer this questions: what was the composer trying to express? What musical means did he use to achieve it? It might be useful to imagine the music as a theather piece, or a movie.
If you're performing an orchestral analysis, you can add instrumental and orchestral issues to stept 3. If you have little experience and want to study contemporary classical music, I strongy recommend you to study beethoven's piano sonatas first. Once you've studied them all, you'll be ready to analyze anything!
This method helped me a great deal! Hope this helps someone else too. If so, please let me know!
