Topic 2 of 6 · Form 5
Analysis and musical form
Melody (range, contour, intervals, phrases, motifs), harmony and tonality, rhythm and metre, texture, timbre and instrumentation, dynamics and form.
Notes for this topic 1 file, in order
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Elements for analysis
Melody (range, contour, intervals, phrases, motifs), harmony and tonality, rhythm and metre, texture, timbre and instrumentation, dynamics and form.
Forms
- Binary (AB) and ternary (ABA).
- Rondo (ABACA…).
- Theme and variations.
- Sonata form: exposition (first subject in the tonic, second subject in the dominant or relative major), development, recapitulation (both subjects in the tonic), and coda.
- Fugue: subject, answer, countersubject, episodes, stretto.
- Strophic and through-composed songs; verse–chorus forms in popular music.
African musical structures
Cyclic forms built on repeated patterns with variation (mbira kushaura and kutsinhira parts interlocking), call and response, and open-ended performance shaped by participants.
Writing an analysis
Identify sections with bar numbers, keys and cadences; comment on how musical features create effect and meaning.
Exam tip: Always support analytical points with bar references and correct terminology.
Check yourself
- In sonata form, in which key does the second subject usually appear in the exposition of a major-key work?
- What is stretto in a fugue?
- Describe kushaura and kutsinhira in mbira music.
Show answers
- The dominant key.
- Overlapping entries of the subject, each beginning before the previous one has finished.
- Kushaura is the leading part; kutsinhira is the interlocking second part that fits with it to create the full texture.
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