What’s the point of doing music analysis? What does it matter that I can connect a thematic idea across the movements of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony? Or discuss the formal organization used in music for Thai royalty? The theory started to feel so specialized that the analysis I did couldn’t see the forest from the trees. 

Toward the end of my bachelor’s in Music Theory and Composition and into my master’s work, I struggled to see any value in high-level analysis. Years later, I’ve come to a better understanding when it comes to these heretical thoughts. I’ve come to revalue music analysis.

The value of music analysis is in the systematic exploration of understanding sounds and how their organization connects human expression with experience and the universe. Analysis can be narrow and confined to academic cloisters. Or it can be work that strives to uncover humanity’s most profound experiences across time and space.

In this article, I’ll talk about the cosmic, small-scale, and personal reasons that have convinced me spending time trying to understand musical vibrations is a worthwhile endeavor. 

Big Picture Music Analysis

If string theory is even close to an accurate view of our universe, then music is the human exploration of shaping the building blocks of our world! Analysis uncovers the whys and hows of music. When we hear a great piece of music, we want to know why it was so effective and how did the composer/artist create it? On the flip side, when we hear less successful music, can we identify why?

Analysis comes in many shapes and forms. Some analysis is written in formal academic journals, but more commonly we all analyze music/sound in real-time aural analysis. In a way, music is under constant analysis that then leads to changes in the music (musical evolution). There’s the group-level analysis that, on the surface, is as simple as do people want to listen? If they want to listen, it will shape the music going forward. It could be argued that music that resonates with people rises up while other sounds fall out of favor. Thank goodness not all people enjoy the exact same music, but there’re trends in the evolution of music on a global scale. For example, at a very high level, humans prefer consonance to dissonance. 

Analysis seeks to understand the similarities and differences in music across cultures and time. Analysis allows us to reveal underlying universals that connect all people as well as distinct characteristics that make music unique. Why are certain intervals so prevalent? Why do “sad” songs have similar phrasing across time and geography? Why is the pentatonic scale everywhere?

In this big-picture view, music analysis, whether formal or not, strives to make sense of the innate human propensity to create and enjoy music and how that relates to the universe we find ourselves in.

Small Picture Music Analysis

This is the analysis of the notes, phrases, form, instrumentation, pieces, etc. This is the work to understand a piece of music, the composer, and how it all fits in with time, culture, and history. In essence, analysis at this level attempts to dissect the output of some of humanity’s most brilliant minds. How were they able to manipulate sounds in such effective ways? Analysis helps answer how composers thread a musical message that resonates with their world. Whether music theorists look at the Western tradition – classical, folk, pop, etc. – or any of the incredible works from around the world, they are putting the puzzle together of how composers use music to communicate their most private feelings, oneness with nature, religious devotion, and everything in between. Analysis is the art and quasi-science of understanding these powerful expressions.

This level of analysis uses many methods. Here are a few:

• visual diagrams
• digital recording and spectrum analysis
• roman numerals
• set theory
• form
• melodic phrasal analysis
• ideas and methods from:
  • linguistics
  • geometry
  • physics
  • economics
  • anthropology
  • psychology
  • neuroscience
• AI and machine learning for large-scale analysis

I think music theorists can deploy so many different techniques in the quest for understanding in part because music touches so many aspects of our world. From the physics of sound waves themselves to the psychological and physiological effects of those sound waves to the elements of culture (languages, beliefs, etc.) that brought the music about, it’s in pretty much everything!

Why Not Music Analysis?

We all have to do something to get by in this world, so why not music analysis? I’ve worked many jobs – ice cream scooper, barista, front desk clerk, a model for artists, house flipper, importer/exporter, digital marketer, project manager, music theory teacher, and others I’ve forgotten or would rather not put in writing! It wasn’t until my mid-thirties and my first “real professional job” that I realized playing, writing, and thinking about music is just as valid as other ways of making a living. In fact, given the reasons above, I believe it’s a life well spent working in music. But what about music analysis in particular?

Music analysis is the cartographer to compositions’ explorations. Listening to music is the first point of communication, but analysis provides another angle in which to express musical ideas and communicate them with others.

On a personal note, why did it take me so long to learn that the quest to understand music is worthwhile? It seems obvious in retrospect that a life of musical investigation is a fulfilling one, but there were a few things that got in my way of believing that. 

1. In my family, music was/is not really a profession. On top of that, where I grew up, the only professional musicians were high school and middle school teachers. The only music role models I had were on the radio and in my CD collection. 
2. After playing in a rock band for about a decade, I realized how difficult making a living would be. In tandem with the money aspect, I realized how difficult it was to fill a venue. I saw bands that, from my point of view, had “made it.” But even these bands were struggling to make ends meet and to fill small venues. In addition to those issues in the pop music world, I saw my music professors struggling to make ends meet – at least one working a second job as a bartender – or get pieces performed. Graduating college with no music prospects made it somewhat easy to give up on the dream.
3. At various points during that period, I got in my head about the value of music. I wasn’t saving lives, right? (wrong wrong wrong!)

I finally realized three critical aspects about music and myself that led me to believe in a life of music. The three things I learned were:

1. Music does save lives!
2. Playing, thinking, creating, and analyzing music brings me satisfaction!
3. There’re many jobs out there that might have higher status and pay in our society, but that doesn’t mean those professions are more valuable.

Music saves lives

I’m sure you’ve had moments when music sent tremors through your bones and helped you in one way or another. Something that really brought home the power of music to literally save lives was reading the comments on Youtube. It may be an unlikely place to rediscover the power of music but reading some of the comments clearly shows that music saves countless lives!

I believe music analysis contributes to the overall musical efforts that help people. With more understanding of how and why music affects people, we can continue to develop and harness the healing powers of music and sound.

Working in music brings deep satisfaction

I can’t speak to other cultures, but in much of American culture there’s this value placed on “being busy.” Returning to the US after living abroad for over a decade, the pressure to go do things and be busy was far more apparent. When the weekend hit, there was this internal chatter that said, “maybe I should be out.” But every time I just played songs with my wife or with my kids it quickly became clear I didn’t need to go anywhere! Even writing about music did the trick. I didn’t need a distraction, what I needed was to connect with those in my life and myself through music. Coming to revalue playing, creating, and thinking about music as a source of pleasure has opened up many avenues of satisfaction. Music analysis is a part of that satisfaction.

What do music analysts do? 

Music analysts investigate music as one of the ways humans are working at understanding the deepest and most intangible parts of humanity as well as contribute to furthering the project of creating music and musical conversations across cultures, languages, and time.