Formal Analysis

How often when you are teaching music to ensemble members do you ask them, or even ask yourself "What is the structure of the song’s form?" Can you answer that? Is the piece a sonata allegro form, a rondo, ABA, through-composed, or a verse and refrain? Understanding this and having your ensemble members understand this can make a difference in how a piece might be conducted and performed.

Let’s take a look at some specific pieces.



This is the first page of Symphony No. 1 by Ludwig van Beethoven. I have added score markings to show the formal sections, the phrase motives, and the Roman numeral score analysis. Each of these things will be helpful in better understanding how to conduct this piece of music.


Symphony 1, Movement 1
Ludwig van Beethoven



This is a graphic representation I created with a designer to show the analysis of the entire first movement in one page.

Looking at the overall form we see that this movement is in Sonata Allegro form with an opening introduction. Knowing the form of this piece, including its primary and secondary themes with transitions and endings helps a conductor know what the key moments are in the music and what he or she is building toward.

Here is another example of formal analysis

Lass dich nur nichts nicht dauren
Johannes Brahmes



Understanding that this piece was a double canon at the 9th helped me better understand the order of the cues, and mark my score appropriately. I also marked my score form as ABA(v) with an introduction, interlude between B and A(v), and a Coda to finish the piece.