Group 2

Michael Totally fine! I love that piece. It repeats itself and has lots of figurations, so – just harmonically speaking – you could probably make your way through the whole movement, depending on your experience level with roman numeral analysis. Do you want to try the first 18 bars? If you're comfortable with that, you could finish the A section (if you can, maybe go through first and label sections: A, B, etc).

Kari  Great choice, especially for practicing roman numeral analysis. Also, it's metrically interesting, with the changes in time signature. Why don't you start with the first phrase or two and we'll go from there?

Terry This is great, especially since you're new to analysis. Quick pro-tip, theorists will just write "C:" at the beginning of their analysis, and since roman numeral I is prolonged, you can just write it once and then extend a line horizontally to the right until the next harmony.

Regarding this (I love it, by the way):

just for your information, the general term for all of them is "non chord tone" or "NCT." Down the road when you're analyzing music, you don't actually have to circle all of them - but it's good practice for now. The first one is technically what's called an "accented passing tone," since it occurs directly on a strong beat. The Bs later in the bar are technically "neighbor tones." All the rest are "passing tones."

Terry said:
I felt that the piece modulated to G somewhere in that area

 You hit the nail on the head! So, now it's just a matter of knowing how to express the modulation with labels.

First, you should look for what's called a "pivot chord." A harmony that belongs to both C and G chord scales. Here, I'd argue that the C major harmony on the downbeat of bar 6 is actually the pivot chord. You were write to label it "I" - but now, on a new line right under that, write "G:" and then IV (since C major is IV in G). Then, continuing on, your analysis from bar 8 to the end of the exposition is spot-on, except for one chord: look again at the third beat of bar 13. The notes you circled are actually chord tones! That means that IV continues through that whole bar, and the A and F-sharp are just appoggiatura-like decorations. Here's a trick: play the bar with a full c major triad in the left hand for all four beats while the right hand plays what's notated. It should sound great. Now try the same with a viiº6/4...

Okay, now back to bar 7:

I think you should label every beat with a roman numeral. Now that you know you're in G there, I think you'll be able to do it. There's something deeper to say about beats 3 and 4, and Eric Wen will discuss this, but for now just label each harmony according to the G chord scale.

Ben Laude Thanks for the feedback. I think I made all the corrections you mentioned.  I gave 6 and 7 a try and I modified measure 14.  Your trick with playing the chord in the left against the melody worked.  My chord sounded off compared to the correct chord.

Terry Good. In bar 4, I would just call it V for the whole bar. Don't worry that a G and E are on stronger puleses than the F and D in beats 3 and 4. It's basically the continuation of that downward scale starting in the right hand - just displaced an octave lower. But if you do the trick again and play a G major chord through that measure, it's going to sound much more satisfying when it arrives back on the tonic in the next bar, with the return of the opening theme and the beginning of a new phrase.

This is an important point, actually. You can use metrical placement as clues for what harmonies would best support melodic material. If you were to arrive at the tonic in the middle of the bar, where we feel less emphasis, there will be a far less satisfying arrival, which almost defeats the purpose of the resolution from V to I. Does that make sense? In other words, harmony and meter aren't fully independent. They work together to create different effects.

Another little thing, and it's not even really necessary, but to account for the E on beat 4 or bar 6, you could called that a 7th chord. Try playing that harmony as a blocked chord - you'll need to add A - the 3rd above the F-sharp - which is implied in the harmony. You'll get a half-diminished chord, which is labeled viiø7 in G.

But more importantly, I want you to practice this passage now with your analysis there. It really gives you a sense of the harmonic rhythm – how long a given harmony lasts with respect to the meter. It's nice to see that tonic prolonged. That can help you feel a sense of trajectory towards the V, which returns you more quickly back to I that the time it took to get there. Also, bar 7 you can now see how rapid the harmonic rhythm is relative to the rest of the passage. That's a kind of celebration of this modulation, setting up a strong cadence in G, which then rockets you up to the next sequence.

Even if you just picked up the piece, you can keep this kind of awareness in your foreground when you're practicing, and it will help you play with more compelling phrasing, and it'll help you learn the notes faster.

Do you want to take a swing at the next page, and we'll look at it together?

Well, I decided to analyze and send it and see what you think.