When we perform a harmonic analysis, we are attempting to explain how a listener hears a harmonic progression by determining which pitches are functional and non-functional to a majority of listeners. To do so, we rely on our understanding of diatonic tendencies and voice-leading to explain likely interpretations of a listener, in the same way that an experienced teacher relies on their past successes with students to better determine the likely efficacy of a particular teaching strategy.
Once we go beyond looking at the building blocks of Western music–rhythm, intervals, chords, keys, etc.–and begin combining these concepts to analyze function, we begin to organize music into structures that combine these individual ideas into complete musical statements.
A motive (or motif) is the smallest identifiable fragment of music. It can be a short melodic fragment, a short harmonic progression, a distinct rhythm, or a combination of these things. A composer can take a motive and build an entire work around it through various transformations, but it will always retain some fundamental relationships of pitch, rhythm, or both.
A phrase is the complete musical idea built to support a motive. The most common analogy used to describe a phrase is to compare it to a “musical sentence”. A good written or verbal sentence has a clear beginning, middle, and end. It has a few required structures and often some decorative parts to provide more specific function. This is exactly how a musical phrase works. It has a clear beginning, middle, and end; it has required structures to define its function; and it can be manipulated, decorated, and transformed to relate to the ideas that surround it. Phrases can sometimes be divided into sub-phrases, but these sub-phrases do not function independently; instead, sub-phrases are best thought of as motives with their supporting textures.
Now that we have a basic understanding of harmonic progressions, harmonic function, labeling function with Roman numerals, and cadences, we can combine these ideas to explore musical phrases.
Because this piece only has two voices, many chords will have more than one option for a harmony, so you must use the harmonic flowchart from Unit 7a to choose the most likely harmony based on function. For example, if a harmony only has mi and sol, this could be either a I chord or a iii chord. If you put it into context, however, it will become clear what harmony the listener is likely to hear. If the harmony with mi and sol is preceded by fa and sol, it is highly unlikely that this is a iii chord, because fa and sol outline a V7 harmony and a V chord will not resolve to a iii chord. Instead the listener will hear this as a V chord resolving to a I chord–albeit an unstable I chord.
NOTE: This piece has multiple modulations that I have marked into the score. We will cover modulations in a later unit, but for now, make sure to analyze each phrase ending in the correct key. If you do not, your cadences will not make sense.
A phrase is a complete musical idea that:
Phrases
In this piece, each phrase is four measures long, and most musical pieces will establish a “standard” phrase length. This is not a defining feature of phrases, though, because many composers prefer to have varied phrase lengths in their compositions to keep the listener engaged.