Music: putting it together

Writing an analysis of an excerpt of a musical work.

In music, students write analyses of musical works that enable them to "evaluate the use of elements of music and defining characteristics from different musical styles" (VCAA Level 10 Achievement Standard). Students use the understandings they gain through these analyses to inform their musical interpretations, performances, and compositions.
To produce a successful music analysis text, students must combine developed aural skills, and ability to identify the use of the elements of music and their effects in the piece, and have a developed descriptive vocabulary (VCAMUR038, VCAMUR039, VCAMUR045, VCAMUR046).
The purpose of music analysis is to provide an interpretation of a section of a composition. This response is often framed by a question or prompt.
This example uses an extract of 'Eliza Aria' from the Ballet Wild Swans by renowned Australian composer, Elena Kats-Chernin.
To prepare for this written task, students will draw on a range of literacy strategies adapted to 'Eliza Aria.'
When first introducing the piece, the teacher may use the strategies:

A graphic organiser, related to 'Eliza Aria,' to use with the 'Scaffolding Listening' strategy is below:

a listening guide for 'Eliza Aria' by Elena Kats-Chernin. The listening questions are 1. How does this piece make you feel? 2. What did you imagine while you were listening? 3. What instruments can you hear? 4. Why do you think these instruments are used? 5. Describe the intended mood of the piece. 6. What elements of music contribute to this mood? 7. How do three of these elements create the mood? 8. What did you notice about the structure or organisation of the piece? 9. Does this piece remind you of other music? If so, what, and why?
After students have completed their initial listening activities, the teacher can draw on the following strategies

The teacher could use the following sentence as a model for the sentence frames strategy:

In 'Eliza Aria,' Kats-Chernin uses the pure timbre of the soprano voice to evoke the beauty of the swan

These strategies support students to build and rehearse both analytical language and the structure of analytical sentences as they listen again to the piece.

Once students have had multiple opportunities to listen to and analyse the work, the teacher supports students to undertake the targeted analysis task. At this stage of the process, the teacher can draw on the Unpacking Genre strategy.

Music Analyses often include the following features*:

Structural features

  • Introduction – outlining the elements that the students will explore in relation to the prompt (highlighted yellow).
  • Every paragraph must have a description of what is heard followed by an explanation of what this means for mood creation, linking to the prompt (not highlighted).
  • Links between the analysis and the impact on the listener (highlighted green).
  • A conclusion which shows the wider context of the reception of the work and link to the prompt (highlighted blue).

Language features:

  • simple present tense (bold)
  • evaluative language choices to express feeling, judgement, and appreciation (bold italics)
  • an expanded noun or nominal groups (underlined)
  • prepositional phrases of manner (italics)

*In VCE music, this written task is undertaken under timed test conditions. Consequently, the introduction and conclusion (above) are not used, and the analysis consists of sentences which describe what is heard and make judgements about what this means about the question. It is intended that this writing task will support students to develop the skills that they will use in the senior years of Music.

The annotated example below was written by a Year 10 student. It has been coded according to the key above (structural features are highlighted, language features are emboldened, italicised, or underlined).

Music piece: first one minute of 'Eliza Aria' by Elena Katz-Chernin

Question prompt: Kats-Chernin writes this about the piece:

"The piece introduces Princess Eliza and expresses her pure soul, innocence and faith in the good of the world."  Using the elements of music, how is this conveyed in the extract?

Source: Australian Music Centre

In this extract from Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin's piece 'Eliza Aria' from the Opera 'Wild Swans,' the gentle and innocent character of Eliza is conveyed through the musical elements of rhythm, melody, timbre, tonality, and instrumentation.

Rhythmically, this piece is simple. Princess Eliza's "innocence" is conveyed through the non-syncopated rhythmic patterns, that land clearly on the downbeat of each bar. There is no tension or unease caused by jarring rhythms, instead, a sense of comfortable familiarity encompasses the listener.

Both the main melodic line sung by the soprano and the accompanying orchestral parts are very much written in the upper register of the respective instruments. The melodic material is simple and repetitive, moving in small jumps. This approach to pitch creates a sense of delicacy, furthering the idea of Princess Eliza's "pure soul."

This upper register writing also creates a certain thin, shrill timbre, particularly in the woodwind writing. This furthers the sense of fragility, reinforcing the "innocence" of the protagonist. The tonality of this piece is also used to further perpetuate this sense of simplicity and innocence. A minor tonality is established which creates a sense of comfort and lack of tension.

The listener is also comforted by the dynamic range of the extract. The largely mezzo-piano dynamic creates a gentle, placid musical environment, almost reminiscent of a lullaby. This feeling is additionally developed through the consistent staccato articulation from all the voices in the excerpt. The use of pizzicato in the strings and the natural gently percussive nature of the harp also contribute to this dainty lightness throughout the excerpt. 

This excerpt features a traditional western orchestra, with the addition of piano and harp. Kats-Chernin utilises a sparse texture that moves from homophonic to a busier, yet still gentle, polyphony throughout the excerpt. The use of glockenspiel also fosters an almost child-like innocence in the excerpt.

Kats-Chernin's piece 'Eliza Aria' has been arranged for many ensembles and performers. The hopefulness and purity created through her careful manipulation of the elements of music, in this extract, reveals why listeners around the world have found this piece captivating.


Learning sequence

The learning sequence for Levels 7 and 8 in Music, demonstrates how literacy teaching strategies can be used in a sequence. 

A learning sequence tool is also available to assist in the planning of Music and Literacy across a series of lessons.