Practical Approach to the Study of Form in Music

With Spencer and Temko's focused approach to musical analysis, this intimidating discipline is made interesting and accessible. It does require knowledge of music theory, but even those students who regard theory as anathema can be put at ease within the first twenty pages of this succinct book.The magic formula (which is an expansion of Jan La Rue's "musical parameters" view of analysis) is found in a chart of what are called musical "phenomena". "Observations" would have done as nicely, since the student is asked simply to state what he sees or hears in a score, using a three letter code. For example, a change in dynamics from loud to soft, signalling perhaps a new theme or key is marked IN THE SCORE with "dyn". This orderly process, indicated above the score in tabular fashion, allows the student to use the composer's own indications to assist in finding those defining points in the myriad of notes which, taken as a whole, can be overwhelming to a college junior. This makes analysis obvious and (in the words of my students) fun.I use an anthology with this, plus the students' own scores. Later in the course, we meet in the music library, selecting unknown scores to analyze for form, period, and composer, using the same 3-letter codes. Recommended.