Group 2

ENHANCE YOUR INTERPRETATIONS THROUGH HARMONIC ANALYSIS WITH BEN LAUDE

Led by tonebase Head of Piano Ben Laude, you’ll also be receiving direct feedback from two special guests: Curtis/Juilliard music theory professor and new tonebase artist Eric Wen and pianist/composer/Indiana University music faculty member and tonebase blogger Nicole DiPaolo!

This Intensive is meant for pianists of different skill levels and music theory backgrounds. If you’re new to music analysis, you’ll find all the prerequisite knowledge you’ll need and more in Ben Laude’s “Music Theory Basics” course.

Whether you’re just getting your feet wet with Roman numeral analysis, want a better grasp of figured bass, or you’re ready to ascend to the high art of Schenkerian analysis, you WILL improve your skills in music theory and analysis.

Assignments

Follow these steps:

  • Submit a piece/passage for approval! Choose a piece of tonal music whose harmony you’d like to understand better. It can be a piece you’re working on, or just one you’d enjoy. For longer works, choose a section that you’d like to focus on. 
  • Attempt a roman numeral analysis! Begin identifying harmonies and labeling them with roman numerals, either directly to your printed score or digitally using a PDF annotation app. See below for more details (1a, 1b)
  • Post your analyses to the thread for feedback! Either take a picture of your handwritten analyses or save a digitally-annotated analyses and upload into the thread below, along with any questions you might have for me, Eric, or Nicole.
  • Recommended: Let's hear how your interpretation evolves with your analysis! Post videos to show how your harmonic understanding is influencing your performance.
  • Optional: Try out formal analysis, chordal reduction, and more! If you've completed a harmonic analysis and are satisfied with it, move on to analyzing the form of your piece, attempt a chordal reduction, or explore other analytic techniques. See below for more details (2, 3, 4)

For printable staff paper, click here!

More instructions:

  • Depending on your music theory background, consider starting at either 1a or 1b and consider how far you'd like to progress beyond harmonic analysis. There's not shame in staying at 1a the whole time!! It can take a while to get the hang of this:

1a. Roman numeral analysis - Diatonic. If you’re new to music analysis, this is a good place to start. Pick a work from the classical period (Mozart, Haydn, Clementi, or Beethoven), identify the key, determine the chord scale, and begin labeling your score with Roman numerals under each distinct harmony. Look out for “non-chord tones,” notes that don’t belong to the given triad or extended chord, but live in between or next door to chord members. When you see accidentals, look for clues in the harmonic progression to help you determine if it's a passing tone/embellishment or if you're entering chromatic harmonic terrain (see 1b). Your piece might modulate, but still remain diatonic to the new key (as in simpler classical works).

1b. Roman numeral analysis - Chromatic. If you’re comfortable analyzing mostly diatonic works from the classical era, consider choosing a romantic piece that features more chromatic progressions (late Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Grieg, Tchaikovsky). Label your score with Roman numerals, indicating modal mixture, applied chords (secondary dominants/leading tone chords), and modulations. Identify what keys you visit and keep track of how you get there.

2. (Optional) Formal analysis. If you've grasped the harmonic content of your piece/passage, you can then move on to analyzing its larger form – how phrases connect to larger sections, what key areas you visit along the way, and how the composer journeys from the tonic to the dominant and back to tonic over the course of the work. Most 18th-19th century music is in one of the following forms: binary form (A/B), ternary form (A/B/A), and sonata form (exposition/development/recapitulation). Romantic works might have more varied forms.

3. (Optional) Chordal reduction. Using voice leading principles, try constructing a chordal reduction of your piece/passage and be able to play it musically.

4. (Optional) Explore other analytic techniques. If you feel confident in your harmonic and formal analysis, consider strengthening your understanding of figured bass (thoroughbass), species counterpoint, schemas (voice leading patterns), and Schenkerian analysis.

 

RECOMMENDED TONEBASE COURSES

Primary resource

Further resources for more advanced analysis

Recommended reading

 

 

 

Group 2

Jesus Reyes

Natalie Peh

Kar

khashayar amri

Ali Bolourian

Kari

Michael

Kirsten Rielly

Jason

Annie

Michael Palmer

David Moore

Terry

Jacqueline

Kerstin

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  • Hello Ben,

    I'm new to analysis, but I know chords. Is Prelude No. 2 (from twelve little preludes) from Bach a good start? I think it may be a simple one to begin with and pick a harder one if it goes well. If you agree, I can do roman numeral analysis of that piece.

    Like
      • Ben Laude
      • Head of Piano @ tonebase
      • Ben_Laude
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Ali Bolourian Good! Here's some feedback:

      • The B-flat changes the tonic harmony to a so-called "secondary dominant" – the dominant of some harmony other than the tonic, which serves to momentarily "tonicize" it (give it a sense of "tonic", even though it's not). This is a C dominant 7th chord, which we call V7/IV (Five-Seven of Four). You see how then it resolve to IV in the next bar?
      • There are some other V/IVs in this piece. Go back through and see if you can find them!
      • You need to account for the C held in the bass, which - especially in bar 3 - doesn't function as part of the changing harmonies.. This influences the feel of the music very much. We call it a "pedal point,"  in this case a "tonic pedal" since scale degree 1 is held. You can just write "tonic pedal" under bar 1, and draw a horizontal line to the right.
      • Bar 5: You have a choice of how to hear/analyze this chord. But what it's NOT is a "II7" chord. When you see a chromatic note (in this case, F#) as part of a harmony, you should first look to see if the chord is serving as a dominant for some other harmony. In this case, it's the V7 of G major, which is V. Now, you can either hear the music in bars 5-12as temporarily moving onto the G major from to set up a big cadence back on the tonic, OR you can interpret this as a modulation to G major. In the first instance, you'd label this "V7/V" (a secondary dominant like in bar 1, but this time going to V). OR you can mark a modulation: write "G:" and then just V7 in bar 5, and I in bar 6, and continue analyzing in G until you feel it return to I (arguably bar 12-13). I think it's more clear to analyze it as a modulation.
      • Just as an exercise, could you go back and analyze 5-12 in G? Look out for secondary dominants (i.e. don't let the initial F-naturals fool you).
      • Bar 14: There are actually two harmonies implied in this bar. The downbeat spells F-A (before the scale), which implies IV (or ii6), and then by beat 3 we get a dominant 7th feel, with F in the bass (V in 3rd inversion, or V4/2).
      • Note the "cadential 6/4" on beats 3-4 in bar 15. It's actually correct to label beat 3 as "V" and just interpret the G and C as a suspension that resolves to the chord tones of V.
      Like
  • Hi Ben, 

    Sorry I am late! I have not analysed anything in such a long time I forgot everything! So I chose 1A right now, but as I went on I thought it might be a bit easy. Beethoven Piano Sonata Op 26 first movement was the one that I chose.  And for 1b can I analyze Prokofiev Piano sonata No. 3? I have not ever analyzed any chromatic piece.  Thanks

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      • Ben Laude
      • Head of Piano @ tonebase
      • Ben_Laude
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      khashayar amri Sure, maybe just the first page of Prokofiev? Roman numeral analysis can only go so far in Prokofiev, but I think it's worth a shot. Meanwhile, Beethoven:

      • Bar 2: It's worth circling the A-flat non chord tone. It's actually a 7-6 suspension, "held over" from bar 1, although Beethoven repeats the notes. Do you see it/ hear it?
      • Also, when you write V (this computer font doesn't do it), you should use the lines indicating that it's capital, like you do for I. Otherwise it looks like it could be minor v.
      • Bar 3: You should indicate the inversion here. Even though the bass comes after the downbeat, this is definitely a I6 chord. It's a common bass progression to go sd1-2-3 with I-V4/3-I6 over top.
      • Bar 4: Note the accented passing tone/appoggiature in the soprano.
      • Bar 5: Capital IV6. It's major.
      • Bar 6: Beat 2, I think that V4/2 is implied there, but technically we get a vii6/4 chord. Also, indicate the inversion of the I chord on beat 3.
      • Bar7: beat 2 is a not V. It's actually viiÂș7, which has the chromatic F-natural, borrowed from the parallel minor (the ghastly A-flat minor, which is the key of the funeral march movement).
      • Bar 8: Note the chromatic lower neighbor/appoggiatura. They're important to the music, so it's worth circling/labeling them.
      • Bar 8: It's worth identifying your cadence points, which define the boundaries of phrases (which is essential to playing this music with fluency and direction). This is a Half Cadence (pausing on V), so you can write HC.
      • 9-16 is mostly repeated. Check against the opening bars, but ends in a "Perfect Authentic Cadence" (PAC), which goes V7-I with soprano using scale degrees 2-1 and bass 5-1.
      • Bars 1-16 are what's known as a "parallel period." Two 8-bar phrases that begin the same way (in this case, with rhythmic decoration the second time), but end in different places (HC vs PAC).
      • Bar 17-18: It's worth marking the anticipation tone (F) on the pick up in bar 16. V/ii is correct, but again, the non chord tones are worth noting. Same with 19-20.
      • Bars 21-24: Nice work.
      • Bar 25: Good! It's a cadential 6/4, which is properly identified as a decorated V. But just writing "V7" and not noting the cadential 6/4 is misleading. You should write 6/4 - 7/5/3, figured bass style, over the V, to be really precise.

      It's worth looking at the phrase structure of this theme now. Why is it 34 instead of 32? Where are the "extra" bars, and how might this inform your interpretation?

      Like
    • Ben Laude
    • Head of Piano @ tonebase
    • Ben_Laude
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Harmonic Analysis Group 2

    Dear all! Just a reminder about the Zoom check-in with Nicole and Eric today. Here's the meeting info:

    Topic: Two Week Intensive Check-In with Ben, Nicole, and Eric!
    Time: Aug 5, 2022 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
    Join Zoom Meeting
    https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88205704167

    I will kick things off, then turn it over to Eric and Nicole who will each discuss some topics that bear directly on all of your work, before opening up questions to the whole group!

    See you there!

    Like
    • Ben Laude sorry, didn't quite make it, the timing is very challenging for where I am 😅 

      Like
      • Ben Laude
      • Head of Piano @ tonebase
      • Ben_Laude
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Natalie Peh That's okay! It foolishly didn't record it, but I will be recording a call with Eric Wen tomorrow and posting here.

      Like
    • Ben Laude Thanks, Ben, really appreciate it. 

      Like
  • My apologies for getting to this so late, I have had a busy week and little time to focus. Right now, I have Chopin's Nocturne in Eb Major (Op. 9 #2) up on my wall, so that seems like it would be a good place for me to dive back into analysis. There are some spots particularly in the middle section of that piece where I have a hard time hearing the progression. I will try to have something to upload by tonight.  

    Like
  • I had a harder time getting this picture off my phone than I did with the analysis, so I hope it's readable. I felt pretty confident about the first section, but I hit my first wall in measures 11 and 12, the transition from the V back to the recap.

      • Ben Laude
      • Head of Piano @ tonebase
      • Ben_Laude
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Michael Palmer Some feedback on your Chopin analysis!

      • First of all, it's best to write roman numerals under the staff you're analyzing. Harmony grows from the bass, so it's good mental reinforcement for the labels to live down there by the bass line.
      • Bar 1: you don't need to every write "of I" (a la, "V7/I"). It would just be "V7" if you're in I. Except, that's not quite a V7 chord, although it is functioning as a dominant that returns to the tonic. Look closely: how do you account for the C-flat? Hint: you have to borrow a roman numeral from the parallel minor (Eb minor). Look at the tones in the left hand, leaving out the E-flat (which is a pedal point). Stack them as a 7th chord. What scale degree is it built on? And how would you label it?
      • Bar 1: Speaking of the "pedal point." What I mean by that is, you get an E-flat repeated in the bass in the first three beats while the harmonies change above it. That's called a "pedal point," referring to the bass pedals on an organ. This would be a "tonic pedal." It's the only way to account for that alien E-flat in the harmony of beat 2. Really, you should feel beats 1-3 as a prolonged tonic chord with a chromatic chord on beat 2 reinforcing the tonic.
      • Bar 1: It's worth noting other non-chord-tones. The F on beat 3 in the soprano is an appoggiatura that resolves to Eb, but right when it resolves, we get a passing tone (D natural) in the bass of beat 4 resolving to C on the downbeat of the next bar (you should just keep roman numeral I and then circle the D and write "passing tone" - the D is not structural to that chord, and to prove it just play a blocked out chord and have an E-flat in the bass step down from E-flat to C). This sneaky overlapping dissonance/resolution is part of the magic of these opening bars.
      • Bar 2/beats 1-2 is what we call a "secondary dominant." This concept will help you understand the E-natural, and also perceive the function of the chord. This is a C dominant 7th chord, which is the dominant of F minor. Aren't we in Eb major? Yes, but f minor is your ii chord, so this should be labeled "V7/ii" (spoken: "Five-Seven of Two"). In other words, it's not your primary dominant, which would lead to I, but a secondary dominant that momentarily "tonicizes" ii (make it feel like a tonic). The E-natural is the leading tone to F.
      • Bar 2/beat3: This is still part of the "secondary" leading tone chords, except instead of a secondary dominant to ii, we visit the viiÂș7/ii (accounting for the Db as well as the E-natural). Also, note that there's a new pedal tone: F. Since it's local, and doesn't last long, you can just write viiÂș7/ii and then a horizontal dividing line, like a fraction, with "F" underneath.
      • Bar3/beat2: What makes you think it's II? you correctly labeled VI for the next chord, so I want you to use the concept of "secondary dominant" to analyze this harmony now. It's a chord that's applied to the VI, not to our tonic.
      • Bar3/beat4: Again, a secondary leading tone chord. You need to account for the A-natural and G-flat. This one's not a dominant (what was the other roman numeral we saw that functioned this way?) And, this one will be applied to V in the next bar. 
      • Bar 4/beat 1: Good! But it's worth circling the 4-3 suspension. You see that Eb?
      • Bars 5-8 are harmonically identical to 1-4, only embellished. It's worth studying those embellishments: what delicious non-chord tones does Chopin use, and where? There are upper and lower neighbor tones (some chromatic), passing tones, accented passing tones (which occur on strong pulses), appoggiaturas, etc.
      • Bar 9: The second half of the bar is a secondary dominant. How would you label it?
      • Bar 10: You got IV right, but he colors it as a minor chord on beat 2. You must account for this heartbreaking moment. It's a "borrowed chord" from the parallel minor, which features minor iv. So you can just write "iv" in lowercase.
      • Bars 12: You can get these bars BUT you have to understand something first. Chopin temporarily modulates to B-flat, the dominant, in these 2 bars. You can feel this in the middle of bar 12 when he cadences on B-flat on beat 3, and it sounds like home. Write "Bb:" under bar 11, and start analyzing the harmonies in Bb. Hint: there are secondary dominants in Bb. Get out your B-flat chord scale. What is V7 in B-flat? What would V7/V and viiÂș7/V look like in B-flat?
      • Last half of bar12, we'll save for a rainy day. But in a nut shell, it's some chromatic mingling that only Chopin could have thought of to get us back to E-flat major.
      Like
    • Tinghui
    • Jacqueline
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Sorry for joining late. I spent some time leaning from other people's analysis and nervously started my very first analysis. I have really learned a lot and am very grateful for this  exercise. 

     

    I'm still puzzled about how to analyze modulation. For example, it seems the piece changed from  to G major in the 3rd beat of measure 13. Is that where I should mark it as G major? Before that, it seems the piece went briefly to D major between measure 10 and 12. Should I analyze them based on D major? Many thanks!

    Mozart Sonata No.16 K545 1st movement analysis 

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      • Ben Laude
      • Head of Piano @ tonebase
      • Ben_Laude
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Jacqueline Good idea to check out the other threads first. It looks like it helped!

      To answer your questions:

      • Yes, you're definitely in G major by bar 13. In fact, he gets you there already by bar 11. And this helps answer your other question. It doesn't go to D major. Bar 10 begins as a continuation of the ii6 chord. The bass starts moving, but if you held a d minor triad in 1st inversion that whole time, it would sound correct.
      • So, what about the F# at the end of bar 10? That's the note that helps us get to G major. It's the leading tone of G, i.e. the 7th scale degree. Right at the end of the bar, Mozart implies a V7 chord in G (spelled D-F#-A-C), but in first inversion (F# in the bass) and no A (the 5th of a chord is expendable). So, think of the ii chord in C (d minor) as growing an F-sharp and adding a 7th, which propels the music in to G major.
      • So, Write "G:" right before the 4th beat of bar 10, and begin your analysis in G major with "V6/5" (the 6/5 indicates first inversion).
      • Bar 11 Alternates between I and IV (with the IV in second inversion, called a "neighbor 6/4"chord).
      • Bar 12: Don't obssess over the C-sharp. It just decorates D, it's a chromatic lower neighbor (like the D-sharp next to the E at the beginning of Fur Elise). You could also call it a chromatic passing tone down to C-natural in the second half of the bar, which is a functional note. Again, we're implying V7 (in G, remember), in 3rd inversion (the C is in the bass). Try playing a D dominant 7th chord over that C, and then resolve to the next bar and it should sound good.
      • Bar 14-15: You're right, I think by accident, that bar 14 is a I chord in first inversion, because we're in G major now and that's a G major triad. Bar 15 is V7, with an appoggiatura on the downbeat in the right hand (look at the operative notes in all the Alberti Bass noodling, they're yet again: D-F#-A-C). Same in bar 17.

        Does this all make sense? The next passage features a sequence that would be instructive to analyze, if you'd like to move forward. Let me know if you have any questions!
      Like
    • Ben Laude thanks for the patient and thorough feedback. I've been working on playing the piece this evening, I will go through your notes and revisit my analysis. I have been a rock and pop player most of my professional life, and I haven't done proper harmonic analysis since I was in college. So a lot of what I was doing probably borrowed from "Nashville" charting that I am uszed to seeing. This is such a great learning experience that I know will help me in so many ways. 

      Like
      • Tinghui
      • Jacqueline
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Ben Laude Hi Ben, thank you so much for providing such detailed explanations. All make sense, and helped me tremendously to understand the analysis better. At this stage, I'm still not sure how to apply this Roman numeral analysis to performance. It will be great if you could share some ideas in your video tomorrow. Looking forward to it! Thank you again! 

      Like
    • Ben Laude
    • Head of Piano @ tonebase
    • Ben_Laude
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Dear all! Just a few words on how I'm approaching closing out this Two Week Intensive:

    1. If you haven't received direct written feedback from me, you will. I've just been juggling a few commitments at the moment and it will probably take me through tomorrow (Wednesday) evening to get to everybody. Nicole will be making her last round as well!
    2. If I've already responded to you, I likely will not have time to follow up with another written response. However, on Thursday I'm planning to record a video commentary in which I follow up with each participant one final time. This will be much more efficient for me, and also allow me to show you a few things at the piano that I take away from your analyses. I encourage you to watch the whole video, not just the part responding to your analysis, as there is much to learn from everyone's submissions.
    3. I am recording a Zoom call with Eric Wen tomorrow morning in which he'll discuss 6 pieces, 2 by Bach, 2 by Beethoven, and 2 by Chopin, each of which is among the submissions across the four groups. I encourage you to watch this video too, as his perspective is very rich and filled with implications for performance.
    4. As we wrap up our analyses and start thinking about implications for performance, I once again encourage you to post videos of yourself playing the passage we studied to together, and offering a word or two about how your newfound harmonic understanding has influenced how you approach the piece. It needn't be profound! And, if you're not sure exactly how your analysis should translate to performance, that's okay. But I'll try to offer some ideas in the video I create.
    Like
    • Ben Laude
    • Head of Piano @ tonebase
    • Ben_Laude
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Harmonic Analysis Group 2 Dear all - as promised, here is the analysis session I recorded with Eric Wen, especially for this Two Week Intensive!

    Wen and I break down passages from Mozart's Sonata K. 545 and Fantasy K 397 before turning to the first page of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata to discuss what's so enchanting and tragic about the harmonic motion. We finish with a peek at the opening of Chopin's E-flat Nocturne, Op. 9 No. 2.
    I believe you will all find it helpful to watch us analyze and play this music. I chose the pieces and topics directly from this Intensive. Even if the piece you analyzed isn't present here, you'll likely find many insights that do apply to your piece.
    It's a long, unedited video, so there will be some down time as we transition between pieces. Apologies in advance for my clumsy use of the editor in my PDF Preview. Not ideal. But I eventually get the hang of it!

    See the description for chapter timecodes!

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