It is fine if the answer to any question is "I don't know." Do not guess at answers. Do not start looking up things that you don't know (yet). Do not spend a lot of time analyzing an aspect of the music that is difficult for you (yet). Those steps will happen after you have decided which aspects of the piece are most useful for you to understand. You can use any of the following resources to help you answer the questions, as long as it is quick and easy for you to use them:
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Recordings of the piece : Listen to recordings of the piece as often and as carefully as you like.
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Written versions of the piece , if they are available, and you can read the notation, and you do not want to focus on training yourself to analyze music by ear.
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Your own instrument , if you can play through or figure out parts of the piece, and if that will help you understand it better.
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Your own written or notated jottings , if you can create useful explanations and reminders about the elements of the piece, in words, formal notation, or your own made-up notation, while you listen to or play through the piece.
Overview of timbres used
Questions about
timbre are questions about what types of sounds are used in the music.
Voices
If voices are used in the piece:
- What kinds of voices are they? (Men, women, children? Tenors or basses? Professional singers, music students, amateurs?
- What do the voices do? Do they sing, chant, recite, yell, hum?
- How would you describe the tone quality of the voices? Operatic, growly, nasal?
- To what extent are these answers typical of this type of piece? (For example, could a female voice be used instead of a male? Is yelling expected or unusual in this music style?)
- What are the constraints of using a voice in this way? (For example, what is the range of a professional tenor voice, or the capabilities of young student singers?)
Instruments
If musical instruments are used in the piece:
- What are the instruments used?
- What is each instrument's function? Does it, for example, play solo melodies, create a rhythmic pattern, play chords, or a drone, or a harmony or bass line?
- How would you describe the types of sounds available to each of these instruments in this type of piece? (For example, does the instrument sound strident at the top of its
range but quiet and breathy in a lower range. Is it an electronic instrument that has multiple timbres available at the touch of a button?)
- Do the instruments, and the way they are used, strongly suggest a particular musical style or tradition?
- In what ways are the instruments, and the way they are used, typical or unusual for this type of piece?
Other sounds
If there are sounds in the piece that are not created using voices or musical instruments:
- How would you describe the sounds? (Are they samples from other music? Are they crashes, clicks, tones, animal sounds?)
- What was used to create the sounds?
- In what ways are these sounds typical or unusual for this type of piece?
Overview of how pitches are used
The
pitch of a sound is a quality related to its frequency and wavelength. In English we describe sounds with higher frequency (and shorter wavelength) as "sounding higher" or having a "higher pitch." Sounds that do not have a specific frequency (such as a cymbal crash or a drum hit) are
unpitched . Sounds that slide quickly from one pitch to another (such as a siren or the chirping sound made by some birds) have
variable pitch . Sounds that stay on a particular pitch long enough to be considered a sound with that pitch are called
tones .
