98 CHAPTER? neni ABOUT MUSIC FOR THOSE WHO CANNOT READIT + pros releases * aartcle summaries and abstracts, given sufficient comprehension The rment fr wring aboot muse are clear itening and thinking Kuonkdge of one's sacoce, and an swarenes of oe ‘om ital For thee intending ongoing act inthis are, el ing misc ency and systema muse ning are ascemry For tose trenching into son. Werter msi, the culture and typeof muse wil dhfine the scam preparation needed 3 Writing Music Analysis {In all compositions I endeavor to fathom the diverse smpulses inspiring them and their ner if. I not this much more interesting ‘than the game of pulling them ta pleces, ke curious teatches?! “—M. Croce Tit DLETaNTE HATER [Ctaune Denessy) ANALYSIS AND ITS USES ‘inow of no more accurate or helpful definition of analysis than that of, Ian Bent, from The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicions: “The primary impulse of analysis san empl on: to get to gripe ‘with something on ts own terms ater than In terms of other tgs. Its stating pint isa phenomenon itself rather than external factors (auch as biographical facts, political events, socal conditions, educa ‘onal methods snd all the eter factors tht make vp the environment ofthat phenomenon). Anal the means of answering drety the question “How doce worker ‘This is a traditionalist view. That i, many contemporary scholars ‘would argue that the question "How does it work?” is inoompletelyan- swored when biographical facts, socal editions, and so on remain out- ‘Glande Debusy, Monsiur Groche the Ditiante Hater (196), n Thrwe (Cases tthe Aasthtc of dust (New York: Dover 1962). 5 ‘an Bent, “Anais” The Now Grove Dictionary of Musi ond Mausicions, ‘Stanley Sadie (London: Maclln, 1980, vo. 1, 342,40. caupren wmITING MUSE ANALYSSS side the discussion; they do, after all, have direct bearing on the way lis- teners hear and understand musio—and therefore on “how it works” But as Bent's definition stands, it addresses the workings of the piece itself, the way the musta materiale are deployed and how they interest “This precisely bow analysis x usally understood. ‘Why analyze? Does this endeavor represent no more than dsasem- bing musi work “ike curious watchs,” as Debussy contemproouly suggested? Pulling music apart ly a necessary part of analy, but iis ‘only the fst stp. The ability to think analytically sbout mse i an ab- Solite nocesty for thoe who see to understand, teach, interpret, and ‘write about mae, and—propery has far mare todo with “Tathoming msi’ nner than does wath disassembly. Our primary concern i writing analy; the anaic sts themsehes must be Teamed in musi theory and history courses Most analysis depends upon printed score examples as does the fol towing discussion ofthe opening ofthe ft movement of Mozart’ piano conceto in A major, K 488 (shown in Example 3.1) ‘The subtle poignancy of the g-ntura in bar 1a master stoke, a Isthe clash bobrecngaharp and ain the 4th boat of bar and theless bios dissonance between the chord of A major and the din the bass {nar 4. tis thete moments of hanmonic tension that prevent te zu se fom being merely bland behind the sunny fade there are had ‘omy places ‘This excerpt from a longer analysis addresses how the passage “works” not by describing everything that happens, a good deal of which {is obvious from the musical example, but rather by identifying those as- pects that are noteworthy and that contribute toa unique effect: the un- expected harmony (“7/») caused by the C-natural, and the dissonances that follow in bars 2 and 4, The analyst expects the reader to understand the cightoenth-century harmonic grammar in the musial example, but ‘otherwise he offers no jargon or advanced analytical concepts. Some right find such figurative ideas as “poignancy,” “sunny fagade,” and “shadowy places” tobe outside the realm of pure analysis, but since they anchor Mozats compositional choices tothe way many hear and under- stand his music, their relevance to “how it work is apparent. Analysis ‘does not consist of simply listing characteristics or identifying particular gestures in score example; it must show how these gestures relate to tne another, how they work together to produce a composite effect and contsbute toa coherent whole ‘Analyse are often done in accordance with a specific system, such as traditional harmonic analysis, the linear analysis of Heinrich Schenker (l- Iustrated by a characteristic kindof graphic representation), or set the- ‘ony. In each system, certain guidelines and analytical vocabulary are s- tablished atthe outset, and the musical information is then interpreted ‘within that contet. Alternatively, analyses may be eclectic in approach, shering to no particular model but seeking to clarify by whatever means seem appropriate. A certain amount of terminology is common to virtu- ally all snalyical approaches, so a solid background in musi theory, in addition to complete musical Iterary, i a prerequisite for both under- standing and writing musical analyses, Antony Hophins, Talking About Concertos (London: Heinemann Bdaca- onal Books, 1868), 25, “Examples of Schenker’s own analytical work may be found in Helnich Schenker, Fie Graphic Musical Analyses (1883), ed. Felix Sezer (New Yorke over, 1959) sample $4 alo giver a Scheaker graph42 CHAPTERS wHETNG MUSIC ANALYSIS ANALYTICAL CONTENT VS. PLAY-BY-PLAY Example 3.2 gives the opening of the vocal part of Franz Schubert's fa- ‘mous Der Hirt euf dem Felsen (The Shepherd on the Rock) for voce, pi- ‘ano, and obbligato clarinet, op. 129 (D. 965), ‘As was the case with the Mozart analysis above, the pres- ence of the musical example obviates the need for lengthy description, tnd the explanation of “how it works” ean be focusod on those aspects that are interesting or atypical. More obvious features may be pointed ‘out when there is reason to do so, but they need not be described or ex- plained. A treatment ofthis short passage might run this way [Notoworty, here, Schubert's treatment ofthe text. The opening line ofthe poem, "Wena auf dem béchsten Fels ich sth" (When T stand on the highest cli), s set toa stable plano accompaniment with ‘wochangng texture and tonie-dominant harmoales The melody bere rnakes we of word painting: the "highest cl te suggested not only by the two load high f pitches but alo by the dane “clmbing” Bg tres thet ead up to them. ‘The analyst has chosen to address the text-musc relationship, which is central to any understanding of vocal music and inthis ese is particn- lary instructive, Other approaches might begia by commenting on the al= most exclusive use of chord tones in the melody, or on its wide range, or ‘on axpeets ofthe rhythm and harmony. But the inclusion ofa musiel ex- ample enables the author to keep description to a minimum and to pro- ‘eed to identifying important points. The cumulative effects one of por- mas ‘Schubert, Der Ht auf dem Faben, min. 38-8 ANALYTICAL CONTENTS. PLAYSVPLAY 49 suasion; the writer explains how the passage works using analytical angu- ‘ments supported by reference tothe score ‘What will not pas for analysis what I call play-by-play. Play-by- play, more a sign of inexperience than anything else, i frequently pro- ‘duced for a student's first analysis assignment. It consists of detalled, literal narrative of what the notes are doing in a particular passage. A play-by-play treatment of the Schubert excerpt seen above in Ex. 3.2 ‘might read this way: The melody, in $time, begins on the upbeat with a dotted eighth ote d snd steentvncte dy fige which ads up toa balénate Fon {he downbeat of the fllowing bar. A descending triplet by apcgao on ‘he third oat (leads down to adtted- quarter noted dowmbeat on ‘he ar, after which, fallwing an lghth-note above, ascends back up tothe sme high rough another arpeggiting triplt (his time, Ha). ‘Tho phrase ends with an omumentalplt on tho third beat (2 that comes to rest ona chal note below, on the flowing downbeat. The pi ‘00 scoompaniment is sate—downbeat le-hand octaves fled by ‘cpt chords in the right hand —end the harmony is equly sare. she, omit of two bars ofthe toni followed by to ofthe dominant ‘This passage is about twice as long a the previous passage, says far less, and consists entirely of a narration of musical events. While such a description isnot necessary an evi it needs to lead somewhere, which this example does not—it only duplicates the information found in the ‘musical example. Note that without a musial example, this kind of wat- {ng is stil tedious and thankless: few readers wil have the patience or the sblty to visualize or hum the line in their heads while they are reading Its far beter to Iisten to the pleco. Because fllowing an analysis is never an effortless task, the author must write concisely clearly, and ‘meaningfully and do everything possible to facilitate understanding. Ex- perience shows that play-by-play descriptions donot full these goals. Tt is true that play-by-play ha often been used in writing notes for recordings and concert programs. The assumption in such eases is that the listener fs about toisten to the musie under discussion, so the guid- ance of a play-by-play description is appropriate. In my opinion, there fare far better ways to write such annotations; this task is discussed in Chapter 4 ‘One caveat: «detailed play-by-play treatment of a particular passage ray be necessary to establish, for purposes of the ensuing explanation,‘the presse nature ofthe musical elements or compositional choles. This is standard procedure for major analyses, where an inital musical de- scription will provide the fuel for pages of discussion. But for mast st- dent analyses, valuable space should not be devoted to material easly ‘leaned from a musical example. Finally, valuable as musical examples ae, i is necessary to be judl- cious in their use; pages of score excerpts should not be allowed to ‘swamp the explanation. Too many examples can produce an effect anal- ‘ogous to too many charts or graphs: the reader becomes impatient with ‘having to jump repeatedly between the text and the accompanying mu sie, and the thread of the argument becomes increasingly difficult to follow. A balance between explanatory words and illstrative musical ‘examples, with @ cold eye to the economical use of both, will poit the ‘way to effective analytical writing, (For information on how to incorpo- rate musical examples in a manusorpt, see Chapter 8.) Analysis Without Musical Examples Certain Kinds of analysis do not require musical examples. Rock and ‘many world musics aro not notation-besed (though they ean certainly be ‘notated, andi is aot aways helpful to render into notation, for purposes ‘of analysis, what wae not notated in any precise way in the fist place. This passage from Matthew Brown's discussion of Jimi Hendris’s song “Lite Wing” does not require an example: Most sguianly, Hendri’s melodic and harmonic om alo shows strong prchedlc influences, Wheres bare 1-4 are bit fo he fa riba bles progression I-I-IV-I brs 510 have quite diferent ori- tins. For one thing, the veal motion from a Bann chord (m. 5) through a C-majorsonorty (8) to @ D-majorehord (msn 8-10) 1 nat ‘ypieal of a Blues in B; progressions of this type, with thei wea tonal functions, are far more common In rock® For another, th chromatic chords on B-flat nd Fin measures Sand 7 are lomatieof pedo musi, both chords le outside the prvsling pentatonic collection "author's fotmote: Richard Bobbi, Harmonle Technique in the Rock Idiom (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1970), 82-10, ANALYTICAL CONTENT VS, PLAVIVILAY 45 Lastly, many of leds’ volcings are decidedly unbluesy. Most stk Ing in this regard are the ubiquitous 43 and 88 suspensions and stacked ihe Without relying on @ musical example, Brown produces a clear, co- Doeront analytical passage targeted at a musically trained readership. He uses standard musical terminology to discuss Hendi’s harmonio Tan- guage, and while the reader may understand the diferences between blues, rock, and psychodelic musi, Brown explains his observations any- ‘way, To understand this passage its necessary thatthe reader be able to “hear” a LIILIV-I harmonic progression, and one from B minor to C to 1; to understand hov 4-3 and 9-8 suspensions work; and to know what stacked fifths and a pentatoni collection are. Musically trained readers ‘who have some experience with rock music wll be capable of “hearing” the music and understanding the discussion, bu it i stil true (and some- ‘what paradoxical) that musical analyses such as this, which do not use ex amples, equire more ofthe reader than thse that do. ‘Technical Terminology “The Hendrix analysis above illustrates that, whether a musical example is presented oF not, you will ned to use certain amount of speci, tech ‘ica vocabulary. Do not revel unnecessarilyin technical language, but do not take heroic measures to avoid i; readers of musical analyses should bo expected to understand it. For many general readers, concepts from undergraduate-level harmony las, suchas Phrygian cadences and paral- lel ths (or dominant chords and dotted shythms), wil be incomprehen- sible. The same goes, only moreso, for terms such as background, mid- leground, and foreground, and for references to numbered pitch callections such as 014 trichords, Yet Schenker-based analysis is pointless without the former, and sot theory depends on the latter. One of the main goals of classroom analysis isto demonstrate mastery of new con- cept and ocular. So-pedaling such vocabulary and taking time and spice for definition are often counterproductive, Mathew Brown, “Little Wing’ A Study in Musica Cognition,” in John Co- ‘ach and Graeme M. Boone, ed, Understanding Rock Essays in Masia Analy. sis (New York and Oxford: Oxford Uaiversty Press, 197), 168,46° cAPTER: WRETNG MUSIC ANALYSIS Needless obscure prose is always wrong, but precise technical ter- minology is necessary in musical analysis. When you are writing musical analysis, you are not writing for the general reader. ‘Two Analytical Excerpts with Commentary In explaining the nature of analysis, strong models will serve better than ‘mentum to become an agent for cotinvaton in m, 5. The mea ar tives atthe tonic for the Bt ime atm. 6, we cold easly imagine &