What is unfolding in Schenkerian analysis?

In Schenkerian analysis, unfolding (German: Ausfaltung) or compound melody is the implication of more than one melody or line by a single voice through skipping back and forth between the notes of the two melodies. In music cognition, the phenomenon is also known as melodic fission.

How do you write a Schenkerian analysis?

Write out a version of the music you are analysing in which:

  1. each note is represented by a stemless crotchet.
  2. any consecutively repeated notes are removed.
  3. there are no bar lines.
  4. the inner parts are removed and figured bass is used to clarify the harmony and voice-leading.

What is Schenkerian theory?

Schenkerian analysis is a method of analyzing tonal music, based on the theories of Heinrich Schenker (1868–1935). The goal is to demonstrate the organic coherence of the work by showing how it relates to an abstracted deep structure, the Ursatz. The analysis uses a specialized symbolic form of musical notation.

Is Schenkerian analysis Good?

over-arching tonality, Schenkerian analysis is a viable analytic tool for that work. The theory was not designed to analyze pre-tonal, non-tonal, or polytonal works, but plenty of authors have expanded the Schenkerian system to try and fit it for these repertoires.

What is compound melody?

A compound melody is a single line in which “distinct components of the voice leading” convey “two or more. voices over a longer span of music” (Forte and Gilbert, Introduction to Schenkerian Analysis, 67 and 68).

What is a figured bass in music?

Figured bass, also called thoroughbass, is a kind of musical notation in which numerals and symbols (often accidentals) indicate intervals, chords, and non-chord tones that a musician playing piano, harpsichord, organ, lute (or other instruments capable of playing chords) play in relation to the bass note that these …

What makes a piece of music Tonal?

Tonal music is music in which the progression of the melody and harmony gives the strong feeling that the piece has a note and chord that are its “home base”, so to speak (the tonic of the key). Most Western tonal music is based on major and minor scales, both of which easily give that strongly tonal feeling.

What does analyze music mean?

Musical analysis is the study of musical structure in either compositions or performances. According to music theorist Ian Bent, music analysis “is the means of answering directly the question ‘How does it work?’ According to Bent, “its emergence as an approach and method can be traced back to the 1750s.

What does a 7 mean in figured bass?

A seventh chord in root position would be 7/5/3 if completely figured. In practice this is abbreviated to just “7.” A seventh chord in first inversion would be 6/5/3, and is abbreviated to 6/5. A seventh chord in second inversion would be 6/4/3, and is abbreviated to 4/3.

What does 54 mean in figured bass?

So in figured bass, 5/4 means a 5th above the root and a 4th above the root. This would mean (in your example, where C is the bass note) C, some kind of F, and some kind of G (this depends on the key signature—e.g., if you are in G major, it’s C, F#, G; if you are in C major, it’s C, F, G, etc.).