Critical Analysis on Decoding Bach

Critical Analysis
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Decoding Bach Critical Analysis
Musical understanding can be described as understanding and identifying patterns within a composition. This skill requires years of practice and education to gain a musician's level of musical understanding. However, it does not take music theory understanding to understand the emotion brought forth by a song or performance. The article tries to present music from a listener's perspective and composers of words, images, and instrumentation. Consequently, this critical analysis will try to understand the objective side of the composition and the subjective side of music that entails personal emotions and experiences.
The author is trying to identify any truth in Mendelsohn's letter to Marc-Andre Souchay on 15th October 1842. The letter read, "The thoughts expressed to me by music that I love are too indefinite to be put into words, but on the contrary too definite. This subject relates more to individuals dealing with the technical aspect of music such as composition, writing, production, vocal, and instrument performance. The author uses a reference from techniques used by classical musicians such as Bach in composing their pieces. Therefore, a musician will get the best value out of this topic.
Contents of the article show how diverse the margin of interpretation to music can be. Music provides listeners different colors and shades of emotions ranging from happy, sad, energetic, and emotional. Depending on a composer's choices, certain emotions can be found in the instrumentation, such as major and minor modes, which are crucial in determining which emotion the music will evoke. Other technicalities such as motifs provide the complexities that differentiate musicians such as Bach from others; in essence, such decisions make a musician's work unique. My understanding and Schweitzer's difference is that my knowledge of music theory is limited. Motifs are an exciting aspect of music composition that I am willing to consider delving into. Therefore, there is an opportunity to analyze the relationship between text and music in creating a piece that evokes emotional responses.
Apart from Bach's reputation as a composer, the content of this article is limiting for individuals that lack a musical background. I agree with the author's assumption that this article is most effective for technically involved music individuals. For instance, ...