Musical Architecture

 

If you ever had a "Music Appreciation" class, or something similar, in college or elsewhere, your teacher or professor probably talked about musical forms, such as "sonata form." She/he would point out the main sections into which the piece of music is divided, and explain the names we give each section such as exposition, development, etc. Or maybe you read about this in a book on music theory. Interesting, but potentially pretty dry stuff.

Maybe you never had such a class, but if you have been playing an instrument or even just listening to classical music, you sense that there is a structure to the music. Even a very short piece, or a popular song, has a structure. You might liken it to a small simple house. A large piece, such as a symphony, by its very nature must be more complex in its structure. You might liken it to a cathedral. 

I like to call this "musical architecture."

Why does music even need architecture? If you think of a painting, you see all the elements all at once, so you can see how everything relates to everything else. You can see what is in the foreground, what is in the background, what the painter wants you to notice first, perhaps. In music, since it unfolds over time, we must have a way for our brains to tie it all together. This happens by relating what we are hearing now to what we heard earlier. The use of recurring themes, and their development, is one of the ways this happens.

You may ask, "is it necesssary to know about this to play the piano?" I could say that you could get by without knowing a thing about musical architecture. If you play with emotional engagement, and have solid technique, you could play beautifully without knowing anything about how the music you are playing is organized. But why would you?  Hopefully, you would want to know what makes it so beautiful, so fulfilling.

The musical architecture of a piece of music is one of the aspects -- arguably the most important aspect -- that makes the music great. The cathedral may have gorgeous stained glass windows and incredible carved decorations, but it is the architecture itself which makes it inspiring and awe-inducing.

Instead of studying it away from your instrument, why not learn about musical architecture as you play. One of the best ways to do this is by "outlining" the piece as you start to learn it. Essentially, you play a "sketch" of the piece by choosing to play the main elements, and omit all smaller details. 

In our music, the structure is inherently tied to the harmonies. If you play a single-line instrument such as the flute, it will be much harder to hear the harmonies because it would be other instruments (the orchestra, or a piano) who would be supplying most of it. But a pianist will always be playing the harmony. Therefore, to do an outline, you are playing the basic harmonic progressions of the piece. A good way to start, if you are new to this, is to play what comes on the first beat of every measure. You must be playing hands together to hear the full harmony. If you read my post on the measure, you will see that the measure is a meaningful unit. What happens on the first beat of the measure is likely to be an important part of the structure. There are exceptions, of course, but you can assume it's a good way to start. Gradually you add more details. See my earlier post on outlining for more on this powerful tool.

When you play a "sparse" outline, uncluttered, so to speak, by all the details (beautiful though they may be), you can start to hear the main themes that the composer is employing. These themes, as mentioned above, are the way in which the composer ties the whole thing together, makes it sound cohesive and logical, rather than rambling, or stream of consciousness.

But "wait!" you say..... aren't the themes made of the melodies rather than the harmonies? Yes, but all melodies have harmony as their basis. Think of the famous opening of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. In the first four notes, G-G-G-E flat, we hear a C minor chord (the I chord, since C minor is the key of the piece), and in the next four notes, F-F-F-D, we hear a G7 chord (the dominant, or V chord) of the piece. So even with just these few notes, not only has the tonality been established, but the main theme of the piece has been introduced, and this theme will be used and developed in myriad ways throughout. It is this devlopment which builds the forward momentum and fuels the dramatic climaxes that we hear in the music. In fact, it has been said (and I agree) that the particular genius of Beethoven is his architecture.

But I digress. When you start to learn a new piece, make sure you don't overwhelm yourself with so many notes that you can't hear the underlying themes and harmonies. Although I don't believe in "interpretation" as a solely intellectual activity, I do believe that hearing -- and understanding -- the architecture of the piece will influence your interpretation and make you a better musician.