1. Some good questions

2.  Is there a strong feeling of pulse?  Are there regular accents, or are the accents irregular?  What is the tempo of the pulse – slow or fast?  Does the metre fall into duple, triple or quadruple groupings?  Does the music use syncopation?  Is the pulse strict or flexible?  Do different instruments or voices have different roles? Does one instrument play a steady pulse while the others have a more complex rhythm?  Is there a small or large number of rhythms in the piece?  Is rhythmic contrast or repetition used?

3.  Does the melody move by step or leap?  Does the melody have a large or small range?  Is the contour of the melody smooth or angular?  Is the melody in a major key or minor key, or atonal? Chromatic, or diatonic?  Are the phrases of the melody in four-bar groupings or less usual groupings?  Does the melody use sequence, repetition or anacrusis?  Are the note values even time lengths or is there a wide range of time values and rhythms? Or syncopation?  Is there a range of dynamics in the melody?

4.  Is the harmony triadic?  Does the harmony consist mainly of primary chords (I, IV, V)?  Is the harmonic rhythm slow or fast?  Is the harmony chromatic or dissonant?  Is the spacing clear or dense?  What instruments have harmonic function?  Is the Harmony soft or loud?  Is there an unexpected harmony at any point?

5.  How many tone colours (instruments) are used?  Do the tone colours contrast or blend?  Describe the attack (smooth, explosive?)?  Does the sound die away slowly or sustain?  Are there bright, icy or round warm sounds?  Are there unusual techniques that alter the tone colour (pizzicato, pedals etc)?  Acoustic or electronic?  In vocal music is the sound produced from the nose, chest or the throat?  How and when does the tone colour change?

6.  Does the piece fall into sections defined by repetition or contrast?  How does the contrasting section contrast?  If a section repeats is the repeat identical?  Is there ostinato used as a unifying device?  Are thematic ideas developed through the piece?  Identify each section. How many sections are there? What happens in each section.

7.  How many voices or parts are there?  Are the rhythms of each voice independent or together?  Pitch, are the voices parallel, or do they move independently (counterpoint)  Are the parts densely or packed or widely spaced.  How would you draw the texture? Texture is usually translate into a visual form.  Does the texture change during the piece? How do the layers of sound vary throughout the piece?