Analysis Terms

Question 1

Basic Tonality

Answer 1

Tonality based in a key, as uses tonic-dominant relationship in the harmonies.

Most pre-modernism music uses this.

Question 2

Pandiatonicism

Answer 2

When all the notes of a standard scale are used but the typical tensions/hierarches of the tonal system don’t happen.

Ex. Steve Reich “Music for 18 Musicians”

Question 3

Extended triadic harmony

Answer 3

Triad chords using 7ths, 9ths, 11ths, etc. Triads using extensions.

Debussy uses this a lot. Pagodes or Jeux d’eau

Question 4

Parallel motion triads (chordal planing)

Answer 4

Chords moving in parallel motion, often used by French composers.

Debussy, The Sunken Cathedral

Question 5

Bitonality/polytonality

Answer 5

Being in two or more keys at once, or superimposing two or more layers of tonal structure for long passages or for individual chords.

Ex. Igor Stravinsky, Augurs of Spring from The Rite of Spring

Question 6

Whole tone scale

Answer 6

All notes in the collection are a whole-tone apart.
WT0 starts on C: C D E F# G# A#
WT1 starts on Db: Db Eb F G A B

It could start on any of the pitches, and the sharps/flats can be spelled differently. It is a mode of limited transposition.

Ex.Claude Debussy, “Voiles,” from Préludes, book 1

Question 7

Octatonic scale

Answer 7

Created by using a whole step + half step pattern. It is a mode of limited transposition.

Ex. C C# D# E F# G A A#, this is one of 3 forms.

Ex. Olivier Messiaen, “Intermède,” 4th mvt from Quartet for the End of Time

Question 8

Mode of limited transposition.

Answer 8

Collections that begin to
replicate themselves once they have been transposed a small number of times.

Question 9

Pentatonic scale

Answer 9

Contains 5 pitches, C D E G A or D F G A C. There are many types of pentatonic sclaes

Igor Stravinsky, “Spring Rounds,” from The Rite of Spring.

Question 10

Pitch class set theory

Answer 10

Takes a small group of pitches and numbers then in a set, with the lowest being 0.

Instructions:
1. Write out all notes, starting with the lowest
2. Make sure the smallest range possible, with the smallest interval at the bottom
3. Number the notes, the first is 0, each half note away from the previous note is 1
4. Put them together in brackets

Question 11

12 Tone system

Answer 11

A compositional technique created by Arnold Schoenburg where the 12 pitches are ordered in a row.

Used by the 2nd Viennese School

Question 12

Transposition of 12 tone row

Answer 12

Transposing the row to any pitch level

Question 13

Inversion of 12 tone row

Answer 13

The 12 tone row’s intervals are flipped or mirrored. Ex. going up a minor 2nd becomes a minor 2nd going down

Question 14

Retrograde of 12 tone row

Answer 14

The 12 tone row is backwards

Question 15

Mixed Meter

Answer 15

Constantly changing time signatures, resulting in a lack of metric regularity.

Ex. Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring

Question 16

Asymmetrical meter

Answer 16

Meters that are not easily divisible by two or three ex. 5/8, 17/4, 7/8

Question 17

Displaced accents

Answer 17

Accents that stress unconventional parts of the meter, stressing what would usually be weak beats.

Ex. Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring

Question 18

Composite meter

Answer 18

Breaks down larger units into irregular subdivisions, either shown as a sum in the time signature itself (4+2+3/8) or implied by beaming or grouping in the measures

Ex. Bela Bartok, String Quartet No. 5.

Question 19

Metric displacement

Answer 19

Rhythmic grouping that works against the specified meter, more systematized version of displaced accents. Syncopations and hemiolas are simple forms of this, but 20th century composes used more complex options.

Ex. Bela Bartok, String Quartet No. 5

Question 20

Polymeter

Answer 20

Multiple contrasting meters at the same time.

Ex. Charles Ives, Central Park in the Dark

Question 21

Ametric Music

Answer 21

Music lacking a perceivable time signature, if no meter is present, but the music still breaks down into recognizable meters, this does not count

Ex. Olivier Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time, “Abyss of birds”

Question 22

Non-retrogradable rhythms

Answer 22

Rhythmic sections that are the same backwards and forwards.

Ex. Olivier Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time (1941), “Danse de la fureur, pour les sept trompettes,”

Question 23

Klangfarbenmelodie

Answer 23

Melody that is split between different instruments/lines instead of just one playing it. Created by Arnold Schoenberg.

Ex. Schoenberg Harmonielehre

Question 24

Sound Masses

Answer 24

Cloud of sound used in a structural way where the timbre and overall effect important. Usually there are no motifs/melodies present.
Used by Gyorgy Ligeti, Iannis Xenakis, Edgard Varese.

Ex. Iannis Xenakis, Metastaseis

Question 25

Micropolyphony

Answer 25

A musical line is played in slightly different ways across and ensemble in a sound mass. This idea was created by Gyorgy Ligeti.

Question 26

Blocks of material

Answer 26

Juxtaposition of blocks of material that may be contrasting in tempo, timbre, texture, etc. Igor Stravinsky used it notably. Ex. Igor Stravinsky, Symphonies of Wind Instruments

Question 27

Moment form

Answer 27

A series of short and distinct snapshots linked to each other but not necessarily related or developed. Based on concepts from Karlheinz Stockhausen Ex. Henri Dutilleux, Mystère de l’instant

Question 27

Open/mobile form

Answer 27

Composer supplies multiple units/parts of material, but not the order to play it in. Ex. Karlheinz Stockhausen, Klavierstück XI

Question 28

Blues Scale (unlisted)

Answer 28

A minor pentatonic collection with an added sharp 3rd note. i.e. D F G G# A C D Ex. William Grant Still, Afro-American Symphony

Question 29

Collection (unlisted)

Answer 29

A set of notes that are the basis of a composition. Could be as few as two notes

Question 30

diatonic modes (unlisted)

Answer 30

ionian dorian phrygian lydian mixolydian aeolian locrian

Question 31

diatonic (unlisted)

Answer 31

unaltered set of seven notes

Question 32

prime form (unlisted)

Answer 32

In the twelve tone system, the original row. 12 notes with no pitched repeated. Ex. 2nd Viennese School composers

Question 33

Serialism, dodecaphony (unlisted)

Answer 33

The 12-tone system is a compositional technique created by Arnold Schoenberg in the early 1920s, and was used primarily by the Second Viennese School during the interwar period.

Question 34

total serialism (unlisted)

Answer 34

This is when you serialize multiple parameters, i.e., not just pitch but also parameters such as durations, dynamics, etc.; it was inspired by the strict and uncompromising 12-tone system of Anton Webern Ex. Pierre Boulez's Le Marteau sans maître, The Hammer without a Master