1

I am composing a marimba solo in A minor (it uses a decent amount of chromatic notes but otherwise stays diatonic) and I wanted to analyse the chords. In this measure, I got stuck on the third chord and am not really sure if the others are correct either, especially the fourth one. The first note of the next measure is an A4 so I don't think I can say the C5 is a nonchordal passing tone.

Also, this is in treble clef and there are no accidentals in the key signature (because it is A minor).

enter image description here

Please let me know if there is any more musical context I should provide. Thanks in advance.

Improve this question
14
  • 1
    Note unrelated to the question: the 8vb notation is a bit ambiguous. If I had to play this, without ever having listened to the original, I may be in doubt: should the transposition start on the second beat (since E/A), or on its second eight (B/C)? In the first case, it would be better to move the symbol a bit more to the left, otherwise you should add more spacing between the down beat and the B/C notes. Alternatively, consider switching clef, which isn't uncommon for marimba scores. Unless you only meant to transpose only the lower voice, and in that case the notation is wrong.
    – musicamante
    Commented Feb 9 at 23:05
  • 1
    Here is the link to the full piece if you want to check it out: flat.io/score/…
    – Dylan Levine
    Commented Feb 9 at 23:17
  • 1
    More in topic: don't fixate too much in analysing everything. Arpeggio passages do not always need to include all/only specific notes of the harmony, as their "temporary" nature also involves passage notes that, similarly to melody, may be aesthetically pleasing/interesting even when using notes that are considered completely outside of the harmony. In modern harmony, such "inconsistencies" are quite accepted, and don't always need to be analysed (while they theoretically can be to a certain point). Especially when the tempo is so fast, most of the time it really isn't worth it.
    – musicamante
    Commented Feb 9 at 23:26
  • 1
    That's a limitation of such "easy to use" tools: as useful as they are, they also prove difficult for such complex subjects as music notation. Specifically, the "8va/b" symbol is usually horizontally centered to the point in which transposition should start, considering the whole width of the text (starting from the left of the "8" and the right of the last character). In case you wanted to eventually create a printable/shareable score, be aware of such aspects, including odd groupings (like dotted 8th + 8th + dotted 8th) which make music unnecessarily difficult to read.
    – musicamante
    Commented Feb 9 at 23:42
  • 1
    About the clef change, it's a matter of context, and mine was just a suggestion about a possible alternative. Clef changes make sense, even for short passages, for instruments that are used to them (eg: viola, cello, bassoon). Marimba is a bit of an odd case: while professionals are quite used to bass clef, percussionists are statistically more comfortable with the treble clef when reading keyboard parts: generally, the bass clef is used when writing in two staff (similar to piano) or the part is always "the bass". I'd still try to move the 8vb clef in the middle of bar 8, if possible.
    – musicamante
    Commented Feb 10 at 0:00

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

...and I wanted to analyse the chords

I'll offer a big-picture counter-question: why?

This is presumably for your own edification, not out of a desire to add chord symbols that some other instrument can use to accompany the marimba. So this is not notation, but purely analysis. Well, the point of analysis is to discover and explain what the composer did, and in this case you have direct access to the composer! So... ask yourself, what are you trying to accomplish by this passage?

An important dictum for any analysis is to go from the big picture down to the small details, not the other way around. Schenkerian analysis looks at an entire sonata-form movement and says "I, V, I." Start at that largest scope; what is the harmonic "plot" of this entire piece? From there, zoom in on passages of a few phrases at a time, and then by the time you get to individual measures or even beats, you can be informed by the end goal. Adding just a few notes to your image, to get the first three bars:

enter image description here

This starts by strongly cementing Am with the three repeated chords, and ends the phrase on an Am triadic chord as well. I would say the "story" of these first three bars is simply one of Am. I don't see a cadence as such; it just elaborates and extends the tonic. One could imagine an A pedal point beneath it all. (By the way, looking outward to the first 7 bars, we do see a nice V followed by a I, so the story even of that 7-bar phrase is about further establishing the tonality.)

Sometimes it can be counterproductive to harmonic analysis at too granular a level of detail. Not every stack of notes is a chord. My analysis of these measures is just a big fat "I" followed by a long extending line. I might then venture into a more Schenkerian-style analysis that traces horizontal linear relationships. For instance:

enter image description here

It's easy to spot a descending harmonic minor scale in some of the top notes. (With a little imagination, one could even find the missing "^2, ^1" in the second and third beats of the next measure.) And another line, in blue, descends along with this one. (I didn't bother analyzing it as a "line," but the lowest notes in that measure could be described simply as being an E with a little upper-neighbor ornament.)

In this kind of analysis I've left some notes unaccounted for. But it shifts the interrogation. Instead of a note having to justify its existence as a chord member, we look for notes that are explained by their horizontal linear relationships. Those left unexplained, unconnected to a line, are just "along for the ride."

Note, I've studiously avoided using the word "melodic" and instead used "linear." These are hardly "melodies" in the sense of themes. But when we've zoomed in so close that we're performing note-by-note analysis, often it's more rewarding to look for linear relationships than chordal ones (especially when all the chords are adding up to "go nowhere").

Improve this answer
3
  • "This is presumably for your own edification" You are correct. I am taking AP Music Theory and thought I might as well practice (although nothing this modern will come up on the exam). I was also just curious.
    – Dylan Levine
    Commented Feb 10 at 14:48
  • This answer was very helpful. Thanks! I never thought to analyze my music this way.
    – Dylan Levine
    Commented Feb 10 at 14:48
  • 1
    @DylanLevine I took a theory class once on jazz-pop songs of the 30s-40s, Cole Porter/Irving Berlin etc., and this kind of analysis was often more applicable once you got past the big-picture harmonic stuff, rather than getting lost in the weeds of all the jazz chords!
    – Andy Bonner
    Commented Feb 10 at 14:54
1

Chords are always interpretation and depend on context, especially in arpeggiated passages where it is not exactly clear where the next chord might start. Harmonic shifts do not need to align with beats, fast chord changes will feel like a quick development, slow once feel more chilled out. And thus the frequency of chord changes can be used for development.

In this case I’d actually see this as two chords: f - b characterize a G dom7 chord, c-e characterize the secondary tonic resolution of C major. Similarly (but this depends on further resolution) I’d read the last chord as A minor and then D dom7 (at least if the c resolves down to b).

Also the second chord does feature the leading tone g♯, which makes this a strong candidate for dominant function. Extend an E an you will see that this is an E dom7 b9 chord without root. So in my opinion the progression would be somthing like

Am E7(b9) G7-C Am-D7
Improve this answer
5
  • I edited the post to contain a picture with the surrounding measures. I don't know if that changes anything aside from learning that the C does not resolve to a B and instead goes to an A. Thanks for the help.
    – Dylan Levine
    Commented Feb 9 at 22:01
  • I'd appreciate it if you edited your answer with the information I provided. I will accept your answer if you do so. Thanks!
    – Dylan Levine
    Commented Feb 9 at 22:37
  • 1
    While E7b9 makes sense and the harmonic function is similar, since there is no E in the arpeggio, it's more likely to be a Bo7.
    – musicamante
    Commented Feb 9 at 23:12
  • @musicamante If anything it would be G♯o7, the VIIth degree diminished 7 as dominant substitute, as it is essentially E dom 7 b9 without the root.
    – Lazy
    Commented Feb 11 at 22:24
  • @Lazy You're right, it should've had Ab in order to make it a Bo7. But it's also worth noticing that if the progression goes towards C, it should consider its linearity, and in that case a B chord would make more sense, so the G# should technically become Ab.
    – musicamante
    Commented Feb 14 at 16:59

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.