This study guide presents eleven fundamental categories of music analysis. Each category functions as a conceptual entry point, though mature analyses typically integrate multiple approaches for comprehensive understanding.
Form and Structure (Structural–Formal Analysis – Examines the large-scale organization of a musical work, how sections, phrases, and formal functions relate over time to create coherence.
Pitch Organization (Harmonic and Tonal Analysis) – Studies how pitches are arranged into systems that create hierarchy, stability, tension, and resolution, including tonal and post-tonal frameworks.
Melodic and Contrapuntal Analysis – Focuses on horizontal motion, thematic material, motivic development, voice leading, and the interaction of simultaneous musical lines.
Rhythmic and Metric Analysis (Temporal Design) – Investigates patterns of duration, meter, grouping, pulse, accent, and how the perception of musical time is organized.
Sound and Texture (Timbral and Textural Analysis) – Considers orchestration, tone color, density, layering, and how sonic qualities define the character and perception of the music.
Motivic and Thematic Identity – Centers on the recurrence, transformation, and development of core musical ideas that contribute to unity and coherence.
Expression and Meaning (Expressive and Semiotic Analysis) – Explores affect, rhetorical gestures, symbolism, and the communicative or culturally coded aspects of musical expression.
Historical and Stylistic Context – Situates the work within genre conventions, aesthetic trends, and broader historical or cultural frameworks.
Performance and Reception Analysis – Considers interpretive decisions, performance practice, listener perception, and the social dimensions of how music is experienced.
Contextual and Interdisciplinary Analysis – Relates the music to larger cultural, philosophical, social, or technological systems, treating it as an artifact embedded in broader contexts.
Sketch and Manuscript Studies (Genetic Analysis) – Examines a composer’s process and compositional evolution through drafts, revisions, and historical documents.