Music Analysis Essay : What is It and What Makes it Different

Writing an interesting and persuasive essay about music doesn’t require argumentative touches as music appreciation depends on the preference of individual listeners. Yet an essay for a music analysis is different from a compelling write-up of a popular topic. Here, your focus is either on the musical structure or the musical performance.

When your professor gives you an assignment to compose an analytical essay on a piece of music, organizing your thoughts and views is the best way to put yourself in the right starting point. Still, there are some important tips to consider as guidelines on how to make your music essay powerful and convincing.

What Exactly is a Music Analysis Essay?

As a music student, have awareness that the purpose of writing a music analysis is to provide an answer to questions on how the subject composition works.

That being the case, what you need to study and analyze are the rudiments used in the music, such as the following:

The time period, the beat and the pulse given to each individual note as well as for the entire music piece.

The rhythm, or the pattern created by the notes, including the duplets, triplets and the rests as they occur in line with the time signature: 4/4, ¾, 2/4, which is the tempo or the number of beats to every measure of the music score.

The analysis must also comment on the syncophation of the rhythmic patterns and how they work with the tempo when played together as an entire tune. The result should be identifiable as music style belonging to a specific type of music genre such as opera, ballad, jazz, rhythm and blues, reggae or pop music.

Important Steps to Take When Writing a Music Analysis

The first step is to listen to the music piece or composition over and over again until you are totally immersed and attuned to the rhythm, and able to detect and identify the types of musical instruments used.

Jot down your observations into short notes, so you won’t forget every detail you identified as structure and feature of the music you analyzed.

Gather information about the music piece:

  • who composed the melody,
  • who made the musical arrangement,
  • who wrote or composed the lyrics,
  • who performed the recorded music piece
  • Was the score composed as a stand-alone music piece or as theme for an iconic movie franchise? If so, you are also expected to comment if the musical composition gives the right effect or impact in relation to the film scenes and narrative?

Organize your views and opinions by creating an outline to bring together all the information and notes gathered. Take notice of the strongest points to highlight as positive elements. When mentioning weak points, be sure to come up with recommendations on how they can be improved.

Cite references and examples in support of your observations amd recommendations.

If in case you’re stuck and unable to make progress with your music analysis essay, you can always seek help from the providers of best essay writing service recommends. It’s important to make decisions on who to choose before you run out of time, so you can submit on or before the deadline.

𐌢