©2011 Milton Mermikides Complete Track Analysis 1

Complete Track Analysis ©2011 m.mermikides@surrey.co.uk

With the important elements of harmony in place, it’s time to integrate these aspects into a complete picture of a track1. Here’s a very brief but pertinent checklist of various musical features that when taken together can help further musical understanding and in turn enhance creativity. These concepts and questions are all worth considering when approaching a track analysis. In this course we’re looking mainly at the pure harmonic mechanics, rather than lyrical interpretation and song structure, but we must remember that the impact of a track is multi-faceted, so understanding these other important elements will give a more nuanced – and more applicable – understanding of popular music harmony. Many of these concepts may be addressed to the score of the track. However it is very important that an analysis is conducted through the receptive listening of music. The musical practice is about the listening and creative process, and although notation is an extremely useful way to communicate, consider and conceptualise a track, it is only a tool in order to enhance, and not replace, the musical experience.

The Basics

Style – Genre(s) - Instrumentation - Production

Tempo – Time Signature - Groove – Rhythmic Subdivision - Feel

Lyrical content – Impact – Vibe - ’Meaning’

Do any of the above change during the course of the track?

1 We’ll use the term ‘track’ to denote any relevant composition be it pop

song, metal instrumental, jazz standard or folk tune. ‘Piece’ or ‘work’ is a tad pretentious, ‘song’ is an odd term for instrumental music and ‘tune’ is a bit ambiguous. So, for convenience, ‘track’ it is. We needn’t get distracted further with semantics, or get overly fussy with terms, so that said, let’s just get on with it.

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Structure Can the track be divided into logical sections using such terms as Intro, Verse, Prechorus, Chorus, Instrumental Solo, Bridge or ‘Middle 8’, Instrumental Interlude and Outro? Can you provide a simple map of the sections? Can that map be further simplified using repeats, DS, DC, Coda, Fine etc? When sections occur more than once, how are they varied, truncated, extended, reinterpreted, transposed or otherwise reinterpreted? Do any of the sections share features? For example does the guitar solo have the same chords as the verse? Sketch, or write out the basic form. Here’s an example, it doesn’t have to be exactly like this, any way that communicates the whole structure as simply and clearly as possible.

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Key and Harmony What is the key area, mode or tonic note of the track? Does it change through modulation? If modulations occur are they simply shifting previous material to a new key or does new material accompany the shift? Are the key modulations closely related to the original key (eg. F to Aminor) or a parallel shift (Cmajor to Db major)? Is the modulation ‘pivotal’ (by using chords that are related to both keys) or is it ‘direct’ and ‘unprepared’? Once a modulation occurs, does the track end in this new key, return to the original, or continue to another –maybe similar – modulation? Does the chord progressions fit into any of the harmonic devices covered in this course? (E.g. Diatonicism, parallel major/minor/borrowing, inversions, secondary dominants, Blues chords, parallelism, pedal tones etc.) Can the progression be generalized and quickly absorbed using roman numeral (or similar) analysis (e.g. i – iv – i - V7). Harmony is of course, is the main content of this course so we needn’t repeat it here. However it’s important to remember that: a) As noted before, harmony is just one of several important musical aspects and it its interaction with other features that creates musical impact. b) All the harmonic concepts presented in the course are only important because they are used and can be reapplied effectively. Harmonic analysis is not an intellectual diversion like sudoko, it has direct musical relevance.

Melody There will be supporting material for the study of melody but here are some salient points that will help understand how to approach the analysis and creation of melodies. Listen (and look) at the entirety of the melody. Can it be broken into logical phrases? Often this can be done at a few levels:

1) The entire melody

2) The melody at each of the structural sections (see Structure)

3) Phrase groups within each section

4) Commonly used intervals/motifs within phrases. For each of the above it can be useful to explore:

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1) Range and contour. What is the highest and lowest pitches in the

melody (or phrases)? When does the peak occur, what is the overall shape of the melody, or contours of the phrases? How and where do any of these contours repeat, perhaps transposed? When a phrase is repeated closely, look out for any variations – particularly at the end of phrases. When the melody is played in isolation which phrases feel unresolved (‘questions’) and which feel like resolutions (‘answers’)?

2) How are phrases separated? Do phrase lengths change?

3) Is the melody (or are the phrases) drawn from a common scale/mode (is it heptatonic, hexatonic or pentatonic?) Does it does change at any point and if so, how and when?

4) What intervals does the melody make against the chords? Are they all

chord tones? How are non-chord tones resolved if at all? When melodic shapes are repeated against different chords, does the melody stay the same (changing the intervals against the chords) or is the melody transposed or sequenced (perhaps preserving the same intervals)?

5) What are the most distinguishable, characterizing and memorable

aspects of the melody?

The Big Picture You should now be able to combine the important aspects from all of the above into a complete picture. Your final project will include such an analysis of a complete track and a composition (with commentary) of your own. This process will help to understand the track in its entirety, improving your musical perception, appreciation and ability to create your own music, which in turn will increase your understanding of music. Keeping this positive cycle of theory-practice active will improve your understanding, communication, creativity and enjoyment of music. Not a bad deal.