Unlocking Meaning in Art Song

Unlocking Meaning in Art Song teaches singers how to analyze songs in order to discover deeper meanings and create more compelling interpretations and performances. The first part of the book introduces important practical skills for analyzing the text as well as key musical elements including melody, rhythm, structure, linear motion, and harmony. The remainder of the book presents an in-depth guided analysis of twenty Schubert songs. The questions and prompts in these chapters allow students, singers, and other readers to discover for themselves the amazing ways in which music and expressive meaning are structured. Songs range from simpler analytical difficulty (such as An die Musik) to medium difficulty (such as Gretchen am Spinnrade), and finally to more complex (such as Erlkönig). The techniques presented in this book can be applied to all types of songs, allowing singers to build critical skills and artful consciousness. This is an ideal resource for song literature courses, voice teachers, students, collaborative pianists, and theory faculty.

Dr. Beverly Stein is a professor of music history and analysis at California State University, Los Angeles. She is passionate about helping singers and collaborative pianists understand the deeper meaning of the songs they perform, and has given numerous song analysis workshops and talks at universities, NATS events, and the CSU Summer Arts program "The Romantic Lied in Germany." Dr. Stein has presented papers at the College Music Society, the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music, and the American Musicological Society, and has been recognized for her engaging teaching style with an award by the General Education Honors Program at Cal State LA. She is also an accomplished flutist, with solo performances in Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall, and degrees from Juilliard, Yale, and Brandeis.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION AND BASIC SKILLS
Introduction: How to use this book
1) How to Analyze the Text of Your Song
What is the Poem About?
Performing a Song with a Refrain
Poetic Structure
Poetic Meter
Rhyme Scheme
Word Sounds
Themes of German Romanticism
Chapter Summary
2) What to Look for in the Musical Setting: Structure, Melody, and Rhythm
Mood
The Piano Part
Form
Phrasing
Melody
Motive
Mid-Chapter Summary
Tempo
Meter and Rhythm
Meter
Upbeat versus Downbeat Phrase Beginnings
Rhythm
Accents
Texture
Dynamics
Chapter Summary
3) What to Look for in the Musical Setting: Tonal Structure, Linear Motion, and Harmony
Tonal Structure (Cadence Levels)
Cadence Mapping
Tonal Withholding
Choice of Key
Linear Motion and Motivic Parallelism
Pedal Points
Harmony
Roman Numeral Analysis
Tonicization and Modulation
Augmented and Neapolitan Sixth Chords
Enharmonic Shift
Sudden Shift to a New Key
Third Relationships and Chromatic Mediants
Oscillation and Circling
Chapter Summary
PART TWO: SIMPLER SONGS TO ANALYZE
4) Heidenröslein
5) An die Musik
6) Die Forelle
7) Gute Nacht
PART THREE: SONGS OF MEDIUM DIFFICULTY TO ANALYZE
8) Der Neugierige
9) Der Tod und das Mädchen
10) An die Nachtigall
11) Ave Maria
12) Du liebst mich nicht
13) Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt
14) Du bist die Ruh
15) Frühlingstraum
16) Gretchen am Spinnrade
PART FOUR: MORE COMPLEX SONGS TO ANALYZE
17) Erster Verlust
18) Meeres Stille
19) Die junge Nonne
20) Die Liebe hat gelogen
21) Ganymed
22) Dass sie hier gewesen
23) Erlkönig
APPENDIX
Template for song analysis (long and short versions)
Bibliography
Glossary