Musical Analysis - Reference Notes

Melodic Form and Formal Articulation: Some Definitions

"motive" "subphrase unit" "phrase" "period" "double period" "section" "antecedent/consequent" "parallel phrase construction" "contrasting phrase construction" "symmetric phrase relationship" "asymmetric phrase relationship"

"caesura" "cadence" "perfect terminal cadence" "imperfect terminal cadence"
"transient-terminal cadence" "progressive cadence"

• Motive: A short and distinctive pattern, usually of simple rhythm and pitch design, often easily recognized. Motives are best identified as such when they repeat, at least once. They often form important 'building blocks' of melodic structure and even influence the form or growth of entire musical works. Much music relies on motivic construction. However, there are many works (very early or modern works) that may have no motives at all.

• Subphrase Unit: A smaller pattern than the phrase, often slightly 'incomplete' in musical syntax or sense, and which often group together, usually in pairs, to form the phrase. When subphrase units recur consistently in a musical context so as to form a (typically short) organizational element, they may be called motives, and the terms may be synonymous, depending on the passage in question.
  
  
• Phrase: A short melodic unit that is relatively complete in feeling, usually about 4 measures long. Often casually described as the amount of melody that one can 'sing in one breath'. It is best, however, to consider these units as the patterns that span the music from one cadence to the next. Many, perhaps most, melodic phrases contain smaller elements, such as motives or subphrase units.
  
  Period: A group of phrases that together form a larger, relatively self-contained melodic statement. A cadence, usually more or less final or emphatic, ends a period. Many periods contain two or even more phrases joined by progressive cadences, though other cadence types are often used.

• Double Period: This is perhaps the most common period form, in which two pairs of periods with tonal and rhythmic interdependence are joined to form a larger, typically closed, formal unit. Usually the first period ends with a progressive cadence (half cadence when harmonized), and the second period closes with a terminal cadence.

• Section: A period or group of periods that form a large, relatively self-contained unit within a composition or movement as a whole. Sections typically are fairly clearly delineated from neighboring ones by varying degrees of musical contrast, such as changing key, theme, mode, etc. In 'short forms' It is sometimes possible for a section to consist of a single period (or more commonly perhaps, a double period). Note that at this level we are really thinking of musical 'form' and not simply a class of melodic construction alone.

Types of Phrase Relationships

• Antecedent-consequent: A pair of related adjacent phrases that have a "question-answer" relationship, either because of rhythmic and tonal balance requirements, shared melodic material, cadence relationships, or unique or contrasting characteristics. Musical patterns at other duration levels (even motives) may also be described as showing an antecedent-consequent relationship.
  
  
• Parallel phrase construction: When adjacent phrases share much of the same material, such as repeated motives or even the majority of notes in almost exact repetition, the phrase relation is called 'parallel'. In many passages the most apparent sharing of material occurs between the beginnings of the respective phrases. In such cases, the cadences may in fact show the only differences. If adjacent (or separated) phrases are exactly identical they would merely be classed as repeated phrases.
  
  
• Contrasting phrase construction: Adjacent paired or otherwise grouped phrases that do not share or repeat melodic cells are said to have contrasting phrase structure. Keep in mind that there may be features that may define phrase relationships as parallel or contrasting in varying degrees.

• Symmetric phrases: Adjacent phrases that have the same length in rhythmic beats or measures.

• Asymmetric phrases: Adjacent phrases of differing lengths in rhythmic beats or measures.

Low-level articulations (cadences, breaks, separations, etc.)

• Caesura: A cessation of musical flow, usually involving relative silence, and often used as a way to separate formal units at any level. These devices may be simple stops or breaks in the texture, having no reliance on standard cadential harmonic or melodic formulae.

• Cadence: Derived from the Latin word cadere (to fall), a cadence is a musical device that brings about a more or less strong sense of formal closure. The most satisfying (i.e. final) cadences in melodic design are those that descend stepwise to the final note. Harmonic cadences have a few conventional forms which should be considered and named separately from melodic cadences. Melodic cadences may be defined as follows, and you may notice a similarity to terms associated with harmonic cadential devices.

Melodic Cadence Types

• Perfect Terminal cadence: When talking about melodies, a perfect terminal cadence is a melodic cadence that ends on the tonic (as defined by the tonality frame).

• Imperfect terminal cadence: A melodic cadence that ends on the third or occasionally the fifth degree of the scale (as defined by the tonality frame) while still having a clear feeling of the tonic triad as the basic controlling sonority. This type of terminal is just a little less final than the perfect terminal cadence. To distinguish them from progressive cadences, look for nearby tonic emphasis (or perhaps a local tonal intervallic root influence) or arrival.

• Transient-terminal cadence: A melodic cadence that ends on a scale degree other than the tonic (as defined by the tonality frame) and that is tonicized, almost always by means of that tone's own leading tone. Almost a modulation, but not permanent enough to be thought of as such.

• Progressive cadence: A cadence that marks a break in melodic flow but not a cessation or closure of further activity. Progressive cadence tones most often are not members of the tonality frame, although the dominant degree often has a progressive effect. The second scale degree is perhaps the most common cadential tone in progressive cadences.

N.B. Keep in mind that although harmonic cadences share many of the syntactic characteristics of melodic cadences, their definitions differ in quality and in name from the melodic cadences discussed here.