River of Life: An Analysis of Music Composition

Abstract

The research titled “An Analysis of the Musical Composition ‘River of Life’” aims to examine the techniques, concepts, and compositional elements employed in the piece, focusing on musical form, melody, and harmony. The research seeks to analyze these elements and propose an approach to improvisation of the musical form of the composition based on the findings. “River of Life” is a composition written for a jazz combo combined with a string quartet. The analysis reveals that the composition follows a through-composed form, with the melody developed from guide tones, pentatonic scales, and techniques of motive development. The harmonic structure features chordal motion based on CESH as well as the use of both functional and non-functional harmony. Based on these compositional elements, the researchers propose an improvisational approach that draws on materials from the original composition such as motive development and the use of pentatonic scales. This analysis can serve as a practical guide for future compositional creativity as well as a reference for performance-based analysis and improvisation.