VCE Solo Performance - Analysis - Listening Taxonomy
Excerpts:
1)
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Rhythm
Tempo: fast or slow?
Basic pulse generally regular/irregular?
Is this music organized into a metre/metres?
2) Pitch
 What is the tonality of the example (major,
minor, modal etc.)?
 Is it atonal? If so, in what way?
 Describe the basic harmonic features
(simple/complex harmony, slow/fast harmonic
rhythm)
3)
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4)
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Melody
Focus on the central melodic line(s) in the excerpt.
Are there distinctive themes and/or gestures?
Describe the basic character of melody in this
excerpt – draw its contour.
Do this in terms of sol fa/scale degree/rhythmic
cells
How is the melody phrased?
Timbre
What instruments and/or sound sources are
being used?
How are they being played? (i.e. using what
idiomatic instrumental techniques)
5) Texture
 Describe the texture of the example
(monophony/homophony/heterophony/polypho
ny).
 Is the texture crowded or spacious?
 Group the sound sources listed at 4) by their
function (accompaniment, melody, rhythmic
patterns, countermelodies etc.)
6) Form
 Are all the features described so far organized into
a discrete section (or sections)?
 Which features change over time?
7)
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Socio-cultural factors
Who wrote/created this music?
Who for?
Why? Is this art music or commercial music?
Where and when might this music have been
created?
What is the style of this music?
The Interpretative ‘Toolbox’
How do the performers use…
 Agogic accents (‘accentuation demanded by melodic phrase rather
than metrical pulse’ (Kennedy, Concise Oxford)) rhythmic effects
(behind/on/in front of the beat, rubato, tempo fluctuations)?
 Dynamic accents (loud and soft, transitions between dynamics, the
envelope of those dynamic transitions)?
 Articulation (staccato, marcato, bowing/tonguing patterns, vocal
onsets etc.)?
Can you describe the interpretations according to an overall emotional or
expressive intension? (angry, calm, afraid, joyous, tender, imploring etc. etc.)
Compare the relative intensity of the interpretations (from inexpressive to
histrionic/mannered).
Interpretation One
Interpretation Two