Schenkerian analysis

Schenkerian analysis is like playing with musical toys that help us to understand how music works. Imagine you have a toy train with different compartments that you can take apart and put back together again. In music, we also have different parts that we can take apart and put back together.

In Schenkerian analysis, we focus on the big picture of a piece of music, just like how you can see the whole toy train when it's put together. We look at the melody, or the main tune of the music, and how it repeats and changes throughout the piece.

We also look at the harmony, which is like the different colors of the toys that go together. We pay attention to how the chords, or groups of notes that sound good when played together, change and support the melody.

Additionally, we look at how the rhythm, or the way the music moves and flows, affects the melody and harmony. We can even take apart the notes themselves to see how they connect and form patterns.

Overall, Schenkerian analysis helps us to understand how the different parts of a piece of music fit together into a beautiful whole. It's like solving a big puzzle, but instead of just looking at the individual pieces, we look at how they all come together to create a masterpiece.