Research

A thorough understanding of a piece’s harmonic and formal structure, composer, style and cultural context helps performers refine interpretations and learn new repertoire. In the Research section at Music Master Lab musicians can research a musical composition and find in-depth theoretical analyses of classical compositions, styles, and composers. 

Musical research can reach performers slowly because the academic books and journals are often accessible only to those with access to university libraries. For example, graduate students in music usually write a substantive paper on some theoretical, historical, or performance topic as part of their degree requirements. Months or years are spent on the research, exploration, and creation of these documents. Unfortunately, most of this work is never read after the graduation. Music Master Lab is making these detailed studies more readily available to those interested in researching a musical composition. Whether you are looking for harmonic analyses, researching an obscure composer, studying the historical performance of your instrument, or searching for new performance repertoire, these articles will further your research.

In the Research section you will find academic analyses of compositions by classical composers. These scrupulous analyses of classical music will help performers and teachers to understand  the music they are performing better. You will also learn enough about the background of the composer and piece to interpret a piece with clarity and, if desired, historical accuracy. These documents will help you research a musical composition and point you in the direction of further sources.