Schenkerian Analysis Guide

Overview

• Schenkerian Analysis is a method to understand the underlying structure of a musical piece.
• It involves multiple stages: Preparation, Foreground Analysis, Layer Analysis, and Background Analysis.

Stage One: Preparation

• Objective: Prepare the music for analysis.
• Steps:
  • Write out the music with each note as a stemless crotchet.
  • Remove any consecutively repeated notes.
  • Eliminate bar lines.
  • Remove inner parts and use figured bass to clarify harmony and voice-leading.

Stage Two: Foreground Analysis

• Objective: Analyze the surface structure of the music.
• Steps:
  • Label foreground harmonic units using Roman numerals (I, II, III, IV, V).
  • Find and mark linear units (e.g., arpeggiation, consonant skips, linear progressions, neighbour notes) with slurs and appropriate labels.
  • Identify decorations that relate to linear units, such as chromatic passing notes.
  • Look for linear progressions where first and last notes are consonant with the harmony of the last note.

Stage Three: Layer Analysis

• Objective: Connect progressions from Stage Two into larger harmonies.
• Steps:
  • Mark one note from each Stage Two linear unit with a stem, ensuring it’s a consonant note.
  • Identify larger linear units and show them with beams.
  • Ensure the progression is smooth and represents the simplest line.
  • Consider the importance of tonic and dominant chords in the tonal structure.
  • Maintain counterpoint rules (avoid parallel fifths).
  • For longer pieces, create a new graph with stemmed and beamed notes, omitting less significant notes.

Stage Four: Background Analysis

• Objective: Identify the fundamental structure of the piece.
• Steps:
  • Uncover the basic two-part contrapuntal progression spanning the entire piece.
  • Identify the fundamental structure (e.g., descent from (\overline{\text{5}}) to (\overline{\text{1}})).
  • Recognize basic prolongations of the structure and any initial ascent or arpeggiation.
  • Clean up notation for clarity in the graph.