Analyzing Musical Narrative
In this class, we will explore how to connect musical narratives to musical structures. Preparation for this meeting should take approximately 4 or 5 hours, divided between reading (2-3 hours) and analyzing music (2 hours). The goal will be first to gain fluency in narrative analysis by performing one yourself, and then, second, to reflect on broader conceptual and methodological issues raised by the readings. Your response essay should be divided into two independent sections, structured around the two-part prompt below. (n.b., this does not mean that your response should necessarily be longer than usual, though you may use extra space if you feel it is necessary).
Part I: Analyzing Music with Text
Part I: Analyzing Music with Text
- Read the essay "Theory and Practice in the Analysis of the Nineteenth-Century Lied" by Kofi Agawu (on blackboard).
- Work through this webpage, where we will put Agawu's tools to use in a focused comparative analytical exercise.
- The first part of your response essay will report the results of your analysis.
Part II: Evaluating Approaches to Narrative Analysis
Part II: Evaluating Approaches to Narrative Analysis
- Read either Maus's "Music as Narrative" or Bonds's "Rhetoric and the Role of the Listener in the Analysis of Large-Scale Form."
- n.b., the score of the piece that Maus analyzes may be found here.
- Prepare an abbreviated response essay on the issues raised by your chosen reading. Give focus especially to their analyses: how do they connect musical details to their narrative? Is that analysis successful and/or useful as a model? What problems emerge from their methodology?
- In addition to your response essay, give some thought to the question "what makes a good narrative analysis of music?" These thoughts do not have to be written down, but they will form a portion of our in-class discussion.