Overview 7b - Performing a Harmonic Analysis

One of the most difficult issues to tackle in harmonic analysis is determining which pitches are functional.

• Which pitches define how the listener “hears” the music?
• Which pitches could be removed without changing the basic effect?
• Which pitches are added to provide variety?

Now that we understand how circle-of-fifths progressions within a key create a basic harmonic “outline”, we can use that pattern to begin analyzing harmony. The framework that these progressions provide can be used to help organize any piece of music in this tradition and allows us to ask the two fundamental questions of all harmonic analysis:

• How are expectations created in the music?
• Which pitches are functional in creating these expectations?

Regardless of the complexity or era of a composition, if a theorist can answer these questions about a piece, they can analyze the qualities that define that style of composition.