Resources for
Music 15200

Items on Regenstein Reserve

Review materials for Exam 1 (2/7/01)

Harmony and voice leading

You are responsible for the material presented in class and in the A&S text through Unit 11. Know in particular the following:

• the correct use of the various inversions of the dominant seventh
• the most typical use of the supertonic and subdominant harmonies, in both major and minor
• the relationship between circle-of-fifth progressions and motion toward the dominant (especially the vi-ii-V progression in major)
• the cadential six-four, and the voice leading associated with it
• the voice leading paradigms introduced thus far; this includes typical outer-voice patterns and more specific techniques such as the voice exchange and parallel tenths or sixths in the outer voices
• the two basic syntactic procedures identified in the A&S text—that is, the process of establishing tonic and the process of leading toward the dominant
• the way the supertonic can be chromatically inflected to create a stronger push toward the dominant (creating what we called a "V of V")
• the way vi and IV⁶ are used

Formal structure

You should review the basic approach to form presented thus far. This includes

• the use of tonic and dominant to articulate important formal junctures; remember that this means not only that these harmonies appear at important formal junctures, but that these appearances are carefully staged through various syntactic techniques (techniques related to both harmony and voice leading)
• antecedent-consequent structure, from both a melodic and harmonic viewpoint
• the distinctions between half and full (or perfect authentic) cadences
• the use of V⁷ (as distinct from V or various inversions of V⁷) to point emphatically toward tonic

Analysis

Although the introduction to analysis has been more the topic of lectures than of readings, you should now be able to discern the analytical perspective provided by the text (revealed, for instance, when harmonies are placed in parentheses). You should also think about

• the relationship between analysis (statements about pieces of music, made either in prose or through symbols) and theory (the systematic approach behind our use of roman numerals, figured bass, and the like)
• relationships between outer-voice counterpoint and harmony that play into analyses
• the goals of analytical prose
• the difference between phrasing and the process of identifying musical phrases
• the use of structural features typical of other domains to organize our accounts of music (that is, the importance of cross-domain mapping to musical analysis)

Review materials for the Final Exam—Monday, March 17, 10:30-12:30

Harmonization of an unfigured bass

• the tools and vocabulary for harmonization are those covered through Unit 14 of the book
• I recommend that you look over past homeworks, practice harmonization on the sample basses handed out in class, and review thoroughly the techniques covered in the text
• while your soprano line will not be held to the standard of Martin Luther’s finest, your melody will have to cover a prescribed range, and should make good (that is, both correct and interesting) counterpoint with the bass
• the harmonization will be completed in chorale style; be sure to review especially spacing between voices and acceptable melodic intervals for individual voices.
• you may find it useful to review basic figured bass practice, especially in the context of your keyboard exercises; facility with these helps immeasurably when harmonizing unfigured basses

Melodic completion

• you will be given a short excerpt and will be asked to complete the melody for the excerpt in an appropriate style; in preparing for this you will find it especially useful to review the repertoire covered in class since the midterm

Analysis

• anticipate analyzing an excerpt from an instrumental work on the exam; you will find representative examples in the A&S Workbook
• your analysis will begin with paired roman numeral/figured bass notation; I will not be overly fussy about the figured bass, but you must notate cadential six-fours properly or suffer the consequences. . .
• you will also be asked a few questions about the excerpt, to which you shall reply with lovingly crafted and yet concise prose

Guidelines for Song Analysis

Study the text. Note in particular the following:

• rhyme scheme, syllabic and metrical structure
• internal structure of the lines
• the play of particular words or images (sometimes reinforced by internal rhymes or particularly striking words)
• structure of stanzas
• the overall story told by the text

This last is perhaps the most important of all for song analysis, for it often supports correlations between music and text.

Study the music. Note in particular the following:

• the form of the song
• prominent musical ideas or motives
• the relative strength of the various cadences
• the harmonic language (especially where it seems particularly complex)
• rhythmic structure
• phrase structure

Study relationships between the text and the music. Note in particular the following:

• overt connections between text and music (especially at structurally prominent points in each)
• specifics of text setting, and in particular what words come to prominence
• any instances of text paintinghow do the two structures relate to one another (are there instances of text painting).

Finally, try to pull all this together by developing as compelling account as possible about how text and music relate to one another, about how the text affects the interpretation of the music and how the music affects the interpretation of the text.