--- title: Music Analysis description: Music analysis is the study of musical structures, forms, and techniques within a composition. Learners will understand how to dissect scores, identify thematic development, analyze harmonic progressions, and interpret the structural choices made by composers across different eras. category: music-audio subcategory: music-theory difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/music-analysis --- # Music Analysis Music analysis is the study of musical structures, forms, and techniques within a composition. Learners will understand how to dissect scores, identify thematic development, analyze harmonic progressions, and interpret the structural choices made by composers across different eras. ## Available Resources 3 Books • 2 Courses • 4 Websites ## Websites ### 1. Hooktheory A crowd-sourced database of pop, rock, and film songs transcribed as chord progressions and melodies in scale-degree notation. Browsing and searching it shows how common progressions recur across songs and how melody sits against harmony. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.hooktheory.com/theorytab **Tags:** chord-progressions, harmony, melody, songwriting, music-analysis ### 2. hooktheory.com Hooktheory is an interactive music-theory platform for learning chords and harmony. It offers theory lessons, chord-function explanations, and an extensive library of pop-song progressions with interactive diagrams to analyze and create progressions. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://hooktheory.com **Tags:** websites, music-performing-arts, music-theory ### 3. musictheory.net Musictheory.net is a free, interactive platform for learning music theory, offering concise lessons on intervals, chords, scales, rhythm, and notation. It also provides hands-on practice with ear training and theory tools to test and reinforce your understanding. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://musictheory.net **Tags:** websites, arts-design, creative-arts ### 4. teoria.com Teoria is an online music theory resource offering interactive lessons, ear-training exercises, and reference materials on scales, intervals, chords, rhythm, and harmony, with musical examples and analyses. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://teoria.com **Tags:** websites, arts-design, creative-arts ## Courses ### 1. Computational Music Theory and Analysis (MIT 21M.383) **Author:** Michael Scott Asato Cuthbert Computational musicology in the symbolic, score-based domain using the Python music21 toolkit: encoding, corpus studies, musical search and similarity, feature extraction, machine learning, music generation, perception and bias in digital repertories. 47 lecture videos, assignments and exams build practical analysis skills. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/21m-383-computational-music-theory-and-analysis-spring-2023/ **Tags:** computational-musicology, music-theory, music-analysis, music21, python ### 2. Fundamentals of Music Theory This course, revised in 2022, will introduce you to the theory of music, providing you with the skills needed to read and write Western music notation, as well as to understand, analyse, and listen informedly. It will cover material such as pitches and scales, intervals, clefs, rhythm, form, metre and time signatures, phrases and cadences, and basic harmony. This course covers the fundamentals of Western music theory, from the absolute basics to some more advanced concepts. As such, it delivers material for beginners and offers much to experienced musicians alike. Learners can apply for Financial Aid directly with Coursera to assist with the cost of accessing the full course and gaining a certificate for successfully completing the course. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/edinburgh-music-theory **Tags:** music-theory, free, online-course ## Books ### 1. Analyzing Classical Form **Author:** William E. Caplin Caplin's textbook on the form-functional theory of classical music, built on repertoire by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Readers learn to identify sentences, periods, cadence types and formal functions, and to analyze complete sonata, rondo and minuet movements phrase by phrase. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199987297?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, music-performing-arts, music-theory ### 2. The Complete Musician **Author:** Steven G. Laitz A comprehensive tonal theory and analysis textbook used in university music programs, integrating harmony, voice leading, counterpoint, form and aural skills. It prepares students to analyze chorales and full compositions, from diatonic progressions through chromaticism and modulation, using real repertoire. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0195301099?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, music-performing-arts, music-theory ### 3. Form in Tonal Music **Author:** Douglass M. Green A classic textbook on musical form in the common-practice period, moving from motives and phrases through binary, ternary, rondo, variation, sonata and contrapuntal forms. Readers learn to hear and diagram how tonal works are organized at every structural level. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0030202868?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, music-performing-arts, music-theory --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/music-analysis