Breaking Barlines

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By Aron Bernstein 4 Comments

Weekly Music Theory Challenge: 2/21/22

Show off your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This Week’s Challenge:

Listen to the audio for the first four bars if this Symphony (if you already know it, shhhhhh……don’t tell anyone until Friday!). Then, explain how we get the violins’ melody from the chain of falling thirds pictured below:

Listen to Audio
Violin Melody
Chain of Thirds

Post your reply and come back Friday, February 25th for the answer!

ANSWER for 2/14/22

This is the opening of the Fourth Symphony in E Minor, Op. 98 by Johannes Brahms. His very economical method of composing was what Arnold Schönberg would later call “developing variation.” Brahms derives the entire first part of this melody from the interval of the third, and twice inverts a falling third into a rising sixth. Another way of looking at it is octave displacement. Either way, Brahms constantly reinterprets these tiny building blocks to generate new ideas. The result is music that organically develops and evolves throughout the movement.

Want to Learn More?

With Breaking Barlines you learn music theory the right way: fun, holistic, and with a personal touch! Have a look at the complete Breaking Barlines Course! Then sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all video lessons, worksheets, and answer keys. New lessons are always added, so stay tuned!

By Aron Bernstein 7 Comments

Weekly Music Theory Challenge 2/7/22

Show off your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This week’s challenge:

This is from the first movement of Tchaikovsky’s 6th Symphony in B minor, Op. 74. What is the name of the non-harmonic tones with the red arrows? They’re in the trombone melody, beginning after the violins’ entrance.

Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74
Listen to Audio

Check back on Friday, February 11th to see if you’re right!

ANSWER for 2/7/22

This is an example of the appoggiatura, a word that literally means “to lean.” The indicated notes are dissonant non-harmonic tones that are approached by a leap, and then resolve by step in the opposite direction. Although they sometimes appear off the beat, they’re more commonly seen as an accented dissonance, right on the beat where they really demand your attention!

Want to Learn More?

With Breaking Barlines you learn music theory the right way: fun, holistic, and with a personal touch! Have a look at the complete Breaking Barlines Course! Then sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all video lessons, worksheets, and answer keys. New lessons are always added, so stay tuned!

By Aron Bernstein 6 Comments

Weekly Music Theory Challenge: 12/6/21

Show off your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This week’s challenge:

Sonata form is the name we give to the structure of many symphonic first movements. In modern times it’s often thought of as ternary (or three-part) form: exposition–development–recapitulation. However, even in the late symphonies of Mozart, you’ll find a repeat sign at the end of the recapitulation, going all the way back to the start of the development. What does this reveal about the origins of sonata form?

Reply to post your answer, and check back on Friday, December 10th to see if you’re right!

ANSWER for 12/6/21

Well done everyone! Sonata form was a development (pun intended) of rounded binary form:

Renaissance dance forms became adapted into Baroque instrumental movements, particularly binary form with repeats on each section. Rounded binary had the A material return after the B section. As time went on, it became standard practice for the first A section to modulate, often ending in the key of V. However, when the A material returned after the B section, it reasserted the tonic key, rather than modulating. The B section became an episode in which the themes “exposed” in the A section could be developed; hence the modern terms “exposition” and “development.”

By the early 19th Century, composers began to see a more linear narrative in this form. To that end, Beethoven was one of the first to do away with the repeats on either side of the B-A section. This was an important step toward the evolution of sonata form into a more programmatic drama, or, at least, a structure with extramusical implications. An operatic parallel can be found in the reforms of Gluck, who felt that the da capo aria’s repeat was a purely musical convention that hindered the dramatic narrative.

Want to Learn More?

With Breaking Barlines you learn music theory the right way: fun, holistic, and with a personal touch! Have a look at the complete Breaking Barlines Course! Then sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all video lessons, worksheets, and answer keys. New lessons are always added, so stay tuned!

By Aron Bernstein 1 Comment

Weekly Music Theory Challenge: 11/29/21

Show off your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This week’s challenge:

Listen to this symphonic excerpt (I’ll tell you which symphony on Friday…don’t give it away if you already know!). What meter is this passage in?Hint: the fast notes in the clarinet are eighth notes.

Listen to Audio

Reply to post your answer, and check back on Friday, December 3rd to see if you’re right!

ANSWER for 11/29/21

The meter of this theme is 9/4, compound triple meter. It’s from the first movement of the Third Symphony by Johannes Brahms. Each measure has three beats, and the dotted half note is the beat unit. Being an example of compound meter, each beat is divided in three; each dotted-half note beat is divided into three quarter notes.

What makes the meter hard to identify by hearing is that this theme is a compact, rapidly unfolding set of variations. Bars 2 through 4 are elaborations of bar 1, and each one ends unexpectedly, sometimes on the downbeat of the next measure, sometimes before the downbeat. The result is a metric ambiguity typical of Brahms, a playful tap dance around the barlines.

Brahms, Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90, 1st Movement

Want to Learn More?

With Breaking Barlines you learn music theory the right way: fun, holistic, and with a personal touch! Have a look at the complete Breaking Barlines Course! Then sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all video lessons, worksheets, and answer keys. New lessons are always added, so stay tuned!