Phenomenology As a Tool for Musical Analysis

An important tool in the analysis of musical works is Phenomenology. This method has been mostly disregarded in traditional analysis of music. In a publication in The Music Quarterly, a scholarly music journal Dr. Lawrence Ferrara discusses Phenomenology as it should be used to describe the sounds of a musical work with relation to sound-in-time/space. The phenomenological method seems particularly relevant as the limit of what defines music continues to be stretched in the 20th century. Ferrara describes the procedure in which to analyze a musical work under the phenomenological method as three key parts:

Open Listening- listening to the sounds taking mental notes of things like there order in which they occur
Reflection- take down some notes on what was heard initially.
Syntactical Description- desribing he sounds as such in time. This includes things such as duration, reverberation, etc.

These steps can be repeated as many times as needed but definitely more than once is recommended.  The analysis Ferrara uses in the article to demonstrate the procedure is Poeme Electronique by Edgar Varese. The piece is basically a series of intricate electrically recorded sounds and manipulated waveforms. Ferrara breaks these down into a rough time map, which after a second review seems to have a larger form after all. The form he describes is in 10 parts with each part sectioned into the type of sounds heard within. From this procedure he seems to have found an overall structure of how the sounds were paired by Varese, either consciously or not. After many more reflections Ferrara consolidated his form to see the semantic representation of the sounds in a categorical list that now can be used to describe the piece with structural and timed accuracy.
Dr. Ferrara finishes off with the topic of a meta-critique where one would review their work for the strengths and weaknesses in the analysis. He iterates that the main criterion for critiquing the work is making sure that in remains grounded in the work. Using his metaphor, it is from the soil of the work or piece that the analyst finds a structure radiating out but always remaining in the piece itself. From this plainly descriptive analysis the analyst can truly know the work he is speaking of in totality.

Reaction

I like this way of seeing the work because even as a musician one must be aware, at least on some level, of the effect of sound alone on space.  What are the series of events, so to speak.  This kind of focused inquiry may seem less than exciting however it offers another type of roadmap to any work of music.  An analysis of music especially with a formal background will most likely dislike this type of analysis yet things such as patterns can emerge from the research which is what formal analysis do like.  So here is a connection that should be of some value when attempting a descriptive phenomenological analysis as a formalist.