 Hi, we're now ready to take our next step in terms of analysis and tackle something that's a little bit more difficult the excerpt that we're going to look at today is just basically two phrases from a Bach chorale now a Very important exercise in learning how to analyze music is to really learn how to take a look at Bach style writing and Begin to figure out what's going on with the theory the theory in a Bach chorale tends to be much more difficult than basic Little tunes, so there there can be some room for argument in some of these But we'll take a look at these and see what we can come up with For now, let's go to the excerpt and we'll begin trying to explain what's happening here we're going to look at Bach's chorale number 167 and go through our process a little bit we'll do this together and hopefully it'll kind of show you some of the thought Processes of going through an analysis First thing we want to do is take a look at the key signature Just like with any other analysis and you'll see that we have one sharp in the key signature Which tells us that we're either in G major or in E? Minor now we're going to have a little room for argument right off the bat Because if you take a look at the first chord that's represented you'll notice that the notes there are E G and B or an E minor triad So one might be compelled to think that we're going to be in minor here Okay, however, if we look a little farther down the line, you're going to see that the note We're heading to Over here where the fermata is The chord represented there is G B D or a G major triad So it allows us for a little bit of questions So we're we're not sure yet as we take a look we do know as we look at this that the first triad is an E minor and the Half note triad at the beginning of the third or the second full bar is a G major triad So let's analyze some of the others as we go If we look at the first beat of the first full measure, you'll see that we have the notes B D and Excuse me a B a D and a G and The B is on the bottom. So here we have a G major chord GBD and B is on the bottom. So it's a six chord. So this is a G major chord in the first inversion Now that begins to give us a little idea that I'll bet we're going to be in the key of G major because now we've got a one chord there and we've got a one chord here So this is starting to kind of solidify this in in my mind anyway. So let's start working from That position and let's go ahead and label the first chord that we see as a six chord So we've got a six chord and then we have a one six now The next thing that I'm looking at is this eighth note here, and I'm wondering what function it might serve well that eighth note Almost certainly is what we call a passing tone It doesn't really have a function in terms of the harmony It's more of a melodic note, and it doesn't really have a function Let's look at the second full beat of That measure and let's see what we have here here. We have a C an E and a G and You know that that's a C major triad and if we go to our good old G major Scale which I've gone ahead and put together here. You'll see that right here at the four chord designation We have C E and G. That's our four chord. So that second beat of the first four full measure is a four chord and Again, there is a passing tone Here the a that's moving us to the next chord designation again doesn't really have a role in terms of the harmonies It's just a melodic note. It's a passing tone that happens. Okay Take a look at the next beat beat three And on beat three we have on the bottom We have a B and we have a B an octave above that and then a D and then a G Which tells me that's a G B D chord It's a G major chord or the one chord in the first inversion. That's a one six and we go to the next measure or the next beat After that and this one has an a on the bottom a C an E and Another a on top and we start taking a look at that and take a look and go okay a C E What might that be? Let's come back over here to our G major Triads and if we take a look at the two chord you're going to notice that a C and E are represented and in fact that is a Two chord in minor okay now And oh and you'll also notice that we have another Passing tone it's a melodic note doesn't really have much to do with the chords So our chord progression for the first phrase is six to a one six to a four one six and two to a one Okay, let's move on to the next phrase We look Here at the fourth beat of that measure. We have a G on the bottom D we have another G and then we have a B on the top G B D Beton that's a one chord. So there's our one We go on and what do we have here E on the bottom? another E a G and a B There's our good old EGB there it is E minor chord E minor triad is our six So we're going to go ahead and write a six there Next chord we have B's on the bottom on the right hand or the Suprano notes G and a D. We put those together That's a G B D back to our one and the B is on the bottom So that's a one six inversion Next beat right here C's on the bottom in the octaves E G to C major triad or a four chord Simple enough. Hopefully you're starting to see it a couple of passing tones Here in the eighth notes and then the next the fourth beat B on the bottom D And on the top we have a G and a B. There's our good old G major triad again in the sixth inversion one six What's happening here at the first beat of the next measure? We have a D on the bottom Another D an octave up an a and a G. That's kind of weird You'll notice also here that we have an a right there Okay, so we have D a D a With a G hanging in there and that G doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Okay, but If we look at the next beat we have a lot of those same kinds of notes in this Beat as well. We have a D which we've already seen there We have a C here, which might have some function, but most importantly here We have an F sharp so if we look at those two beats together. We have D F sharp a and Then this note right here is a C and that gives us our good old five Seven chord so really those two beats beats one and beat two of that bar are Five seven chord and that really makes sense when we get to the Firmata here and we see that our notes are G B D G or One and isn't it true that we really want to feel that five seven pulling to a one So we can pretty much guarantee that those two first beats of that bar are all framing out of five seven chord with a passing tone up here on That G that's the only note in that two beats that doesn't sort of have a Function in the chord But this ought to give you a little idea of how one would approach a bot chorale and really start analyzing it Sometimes you have to sort of work backwards In this particular instance, we didn't really know what key we were in until we looked at Several chords. We looked at the first chord We looked at the second chord and we looked at the first Firmata and and after Looking at all of those and then really pulling in the the second and third beat. It became very clear Okay, we're working in the key of G major not in the key of E minor and this analysis makes lots of good sense as we Move forward in the key of G Especially the fact that in the second phrase we have that strong dominant relationship of five seven to one So that'll give you a little idea of how to analyze a bot chorale You've got some analysis to do as part of the assignment. Go ahead and give it a try Make sure that you work to figure out what key you're in first And then once you have the key right in the function of each set of harmonies as you go through the piece Good luck with this and be patient bot chorales can tend to get a little bit tricky