Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This extremely practical introduction to musical analysis explores the factors that give unity and coherence to musical masterpieces. Having first identified and explained the most important analytical methods, Nicholas Cook examines given compositions from the last two hundred years to show how different analytical procedures suit different types of music.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Acknowledgments (p. v)
• Introduction (p. 1)
• Part 1 Analytical Methods (p. 5)
• Chapter 1 Traditional Methods of Analysis (p. 7)
• Chapter 2 Schenkerian Analysis (p. 27)
• Chapter 3 Psychological Approaches to Analysis (p. 67)
• Chapter 4 Formal Approaches to Analysis (p. 116)
• Chapter 5 Techniques of Comparative Analysis (p. 183)
• Chapter 6 What Does Musical Analysis Tell Us? (p. 215)
• Part 2 Worked Examples of Analysis (p. 235)
• Chapter 7 Starting an Analysis (p. 237)
• Chapter 8 Analyzing Music in Sonata Form (p. 260)
• Chapter 9 Analyzing Serial Music (p. 294)
• Chapter 10 Some Problem Pieces (p. 335)
• Suggestions for Further Reading (p. 372)
• Index (p. 374)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Cook combines an engaging introduction to significant current analytical methods with worked examples of 19th- and early-20th-century music. He offers practical advice on how to analyze and choose a method, advising against the temptation to force the music into a neat, preconceived analytical mold. If the goal of analysis is to elucidate a specific work, Cook argues each work is individual and may require a different method or combination of methods. This book is particularly helpful as a basic, step-by-step guide to, e.g., Schenkerian graphs or Allen Forte's set-theory analysis. As might be expected in such a general survey, simplifications do occur; not all current methods are included and descriptions are limited. Nevertheless, this insightful study is unique because it surveys many methods and appealing because it focuses analytical techniques on the music. Cook is an advocate first and foremost for music as an aural and emotive art. Therefore, he skillfully avoids analysis for analysis' sake. Lower-division undergraduates.-M. Nien-Hwa Cheng, Colgate University

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Nicholas Cook is at University of Southampton.