Introduction to Analysis, La Rue

Ana.htm

Read Ch. 3  "The Music" in Zorn's: The Music Listener's Companion

esp. the section of stylistic characteristics at the end of the chapter! Look at the sheet that I passed out the first day called “Cue Sheet for Stylistic Analysis.”

 

                 Musical Analysis is a way of gaining deeper appreciation of a piece by observation of a  musical artifact or detail which gives insight. This can take the form of a lecture, score letter of the composer etc. It is in fact, very closely linked to history. Choreographers should be tenacious about finding out information, about  finding out why composers create various works; What is the drive behind various techniques and sounds? Ask the five journalistic questions: who, what, when, where, and why.

 

I) Sources of information

                 A) score - the score tells us the most about the actual musical context.

                 Things you can tell about music just by looking at a score:

 

                                                                   - Texture, melodic

                                                                   - Rhythmic motives         

                                                                   - Melodic shape

                                                                   - Melodic Thematic Material

                                                                   - Form/Sectional Variation

                                                                   - Style/Period

                                                                   - Mood/Titles

                                                                   - Instrumentation

                                                                   - Areas of change/interest

                                                                   - Places of difficulty

                                                                   - Meter/tempo/timing

                                                                   - Conductor's difficulties

                

                 B) Recordings -Not only do recordings give us an actual performance rendition but they almost always have notes which tell a lot  about pieces and the collected history as well as the historiography. See Dvorák Serenade in E Major, Op. 22 London Recording

 

                 C) Biographies/Biographical Dictionaries - these are excellent sources for information about the composer's lives and background material on the pieces. There is rarely any deep analysis but the groundwork for a complete analysis is often laid in a biographical dictionary. The best general purpose is Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians [in the music library or my office].  See Grove

 

                 D) Vorworten /Foreword- the little paragraphs before a piece of typeset music. Usually the publisher sees fit to describe the music or the process of printing the music. Occasionally there is a composer's note or some interpretive information which is pertinent like common practice on trills and ornaments. See Shirmer,  Early Keyboard Music .

 

                 E) Program Notes - These are a listener's best friend. They are written by somebody who writes interpretive notes and who is usually well-heeled in the ways of performance of the standard repertoire. Many critics lean on this body of information for filling in gaps in their own knowledge. The literature is huge, unfortunately we only listen to a small portion of the lit. Below are some call #s for program note collections in the library.

 

 1. TITLE:   PROGRAM NOTES FOR THE LISTENER TO MUSIC

CALL NO: 785G798 by Kenneth Finch Damon

 

 2. TITLE:   Guide to symphonic music / by Edward Downes.

 CALL NO: 785.1D759N1981

 

3. TITLE:   Great orchestral music, a treasury of program notes.

 CALL NO: 785G798

                                 

4. World Music - The Rough Guide and Jazz - the Rough Guide, Penguin Books

 

Also see Zorn for Appendices on the same information.

 

II) What do you do in analysis?

 

                 The single most important thing is to use whatever information and organize it in a way that is honest and makes sense to you. Sometimes pictures are the best, sometimes writing (usually academic analyses take this tried and true form), sometimes the form of a lecture/demo like I do in class. In any case, you must have a personal rigor about what you do, be responsible and treat the music and composers with an open-minded un-predisposed heart. This is the element of historiography. Historiography is a slant on information dictated by current trends in writing, culture etc. E.g. : we view the Civil War in a very strange way because it happened "in the family", so to speak. The history of the Vietnam War will not ever be anything other than an exercise in viewpoints for this reason, because it was and remains so politically charged. Art history is the same way.

 

A) Start with the actual sound of the music itself.

                                  What instrumentation?

                                  What articulation?

                                  Acoustic/electric?

                                  Live/Memorex?

 

                 B) Next try the melody [if there is one].

                                  Shape, contour?

                                  Leaps, skips?

                                  Smooth, rough, athletic,

                                  Clear phrases, cadences?

                

                 C) Try to figure out rhythmic concerns.

 

                 D) What is the overall shape of the piece; what is its form?

                

                 E) What is the intent of the music; is it programmatic or absolute?