5 Questions for Better Score Analysis
September 25, 2024
In Today’s Newsletter:
Deep Dive: 5 Questions to ask for more effective score analysis
Preview: Membership Community Video Walkthrough
Music History Oddity: Inconsistency in the Beatles Album Titles
Recommendations: Resources for Score Analysis
4-5 minute read
The Double Bar Newsletter is a weekly email newsletter that helps musicians find their signature sound through deepening their understanding of music through composition, music theory, and musicology.
Get a preview of the new Community site
Since today is the LAST DAY to sign up to be a beta tester (Only a few spots are left), I wanted to give everyone a little preview I've made this membership site walkthrough video.
Our fundraising goal for this community is $5,000 to cover the costs of website development and content creation. We’ve made some good progress, but we haven’t made it to our goal yet!
There are also only two days left to take advantage of the Lifetime Membership offer that goes along with our crowdfunding campaign. A donation of $100 will get you FREE platinum membership for life. This offer will not be available after the crowdfunding campaign ends on September 27.
(note: if you would like to give more than $100, see the information about the scholarship fund further down the email)
Membership Community Website Walkthrough
Join me on a video preview of the new membership community!
Deep Dive: 5 Questions to Ask for Score Analysis
Happy Autumn, everyone! It’s officially my favorite season of the year. And of course, this time of year I like to sit on the outdoor patio of the coffee shop in our neighborhood and analyze music. This is a topic I get quite a number of questions about, so today I thought I might share 5 questions you can ask to help effectively guide your study time. (And make sure to check out the recommendations for score study resources later on in the newsletter)
1) What is your goal?
If I don’t go in with a purpose, I find my study session very scattered and unproductive.
This answer depends on how you are approaching the score. Conductors, Performers, and Composers will all have different objectives when approaching a score.
But, you'll want to have a goal. I highly recommend focusing on one particular aspect at a time. And honestly, I like to focus on one particular aspect in one particular section of the music.
So, are you focusing on technique, form, interpretation, orchestration, or something else; and how could you tailor your study to meet that goal?
2) What is the historical and cultural context of the piece?
Try to understand the time period, location, and cultural influences that shaped the composition. Research the composer’s background and the circumstances under which the piece was written.
This isn't found directly in the score - but it certainly allows you to understand the piece in a deeper way, and often it can give you answers to particular questions you may have. Like I've said before: composition, music theory, and musicology can't really be separated.
3) What did I find the most fascinating aspect of this piece?
If you have watched a Score Study video of mine, or have read my Score Study Field Guide, you know that what I like to do is to listen to a piece until something strikes my ear as fascinating, and then I'll do some deeper exploration.
This works for two reasons: 1) it gives you an intrinsic motivation for exploration (because you found it interesting), and 2) it helps you break down the piece into something manageable. If you tried to look at the whole piece, it would be overwhelming. This allows you to focus your attention on one thing. And 95% of the time, it leads to asking more questions, which leads to more score exploration.
4) What emotional or narrative journey does the music convey?
This is one of my favorite questions to ask. It's not in the score (unless the composer wrote "Play with great sadness" or something). Generally, this is left up to our own interpretation and feeling. Asking this question allows us to connect with the piece on a deeper level. Especially as score study involves a lot of "cold hard facts" - this question brings us back to the heart of the music, and can tell us a lot about why a composer made the choices they made. That, and our reaction to the piece can tell us how we interpret the composer's choices.
5) What are the relationships between different musical elements (melody, harmony, rhythm, texture)?
For me, the creation and study of music is all about how the elements of music relate to each other. Understanding this will help you grasp the balance, contrast, and unity within the piece.
How do melody, harmony, rhythm, and texture work together to create a cohesive or contrasting musical experience? Figuring out these relationships will help you figure out the heart of the piece.
6) (bonus) What can I take from this piece and apply to my own music/my understanding of music?
I think this is probably the goal of score study for most of us. But I wanted to include this question because sometimes the point can get lost - especially if you are assigned the score analysis for class. So, look for those practical takeaways, and write them down.
Scholarship Fund
Would you like to make a huge impact on our community? Consider donating to the Community Scholarship Fund.
For every $100 you donate, I'll put that money into a scholarship fund. So, if you donate $1,000, I'll be able to give 10 people free lifetime membership through your scholarship fund. This would be huge for those who want to develop their skills as a musician but don't have the financial means. Imagine all of the musicians you could impact with a donation of say $5,000, or even $10,000.
If you would like to contribute to the scholarship fund, you can do so through the community funding page, or for donations of $1000 or more: contact me directly to set up another method.
Recommendations: Resources for Score Analysis
Videos
- A Better Way to Analyze Music (Ryan Leach)
- How To Analyze Music and Why (Nahre Sol)
- Score Study Playlist - Here’s all of my videos where I analyze music and talk through the process
eBooks
- The Score Study Field Guide. My step-by-step process for analyzing any piece of music on your own.
Textbooks + Anthologies
- Music for Analysis. This book is divided by theoretical concepts. It’s more expensive, I’ve used it in my university classrooms.
- Anthology of Music for Analysis. Same idea as the one above. I’ll note here that both books are geared at western classical music
Music History Oddity: The Beatles’ Albums
So. I'm doing some music history research, and for this particular project I'm having to look at the Billboard charts each week in the 1960s. That’s when I noticed something: there in the Top 200 is an album called “The Beatles’ Second Album.” I’ve never heard of this before, and so I started digging.
Turns out, the Beatles albums have different names in the UK than they did for their original US releases. For example, the Beatles had an album titled "With the Beatles" released in the UK on November 22, 1963 (I wonder if anything else happened that day?) which included 14 songs and a runtime of 33 minutes, but when it released in the US in January of 1964, it was titled "Meet The Beatles" and only included 12 tracks and a runtime of just over 26 minutes.
The reason seems to be that Capitol Records was trying to maximize profit for American audiences, go figure. This strategy included releasing more albums with less songs. As I was pulling on that string, I found out that 7 albums released in the UK before Sgt. Peppers, but that translated to 11 US albums. You can read more about that on my blog.
Oh, and also Alvin and the Chipmunks sing the Beatles is a thing. It’s a very real thing that happened, and you can listen to it. Maybe this is common knowledge and I am super late to the party, but wow, I did not see that coming.
What I’m Listening To
I mean, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t listening to Alvin and the Chipmunks Sing The Beatles.
Valerie Coleman - “Red Clay and Mississippi Delta” (Performed by the Imani Winds Woodwind Quintet) This is a fun piece combining the instruments of a classical woodwind quintet with the sonorities of gulf coast jazz. If you aren’t familiar with Valerie Coleman, you should get acquainted.
Thanks for joining me this week. And hey, if you’re enjoying the new newsletter format - let me know! And help me spread the word to reach as many musicians as we can.
Jesse