Abstract

In this essay a comparison will be made between one piece from the Grade One, Three, Five and Eight piano repertoire. The chosen pieces are primarily from the London College of Music with one each from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music and Trinity Guildhall. The Grade One piece chosen is ‘Quasi Adagio’ by Béla Bartók, the Grade Three piece is ‘Praeludium’ by J.S. Bach, the Grade Five piece is ‘Waltz in A minor’ by Chopin and the Grade Eight is ‘Snow, Moon and Flowers’ by Peter Sculthorpe.

​

The frame of reference will be the interrelationship of overall form and structure including motivic and thematic development. The harmonic and tonal schema will be addressed with points of climax and repose identified. Cogitation will be applied to final performance and its interrelationship with teaching including due reflection on how the former interacts with the latter.

​

In preparation for this essay I investigated the analytical methods of Heinrich Schenker (1868–1935). (Schenkerian analysis is a method of analyzing tonal music). I also undertook to research the analysis methods based on The Information Theorists and Mathematical Underpinning Analysis discussed by Richard R. Randall in A General Theory of Comparative Music Analysis [1]

​

From the methods addressed there were none that sufficiently met the requirement of this essay therefore I have extracted elements and incorporated them into my own analytical method.