[Paultergeist]

Greetings,

I find myself repeatedly re-visiting this line of thought, and I never seem to reach a conclusion which is entirely satisfying or enlightening. I am hoping that some of the other experienced forum members may have some insights or knowledge to share.

As a method towards (a) memorizing songs as well as (b) understanding songs better, I have long been advised by my music mentors to "harmonically analyze" the chords which comprise the songs I wish to play. By the term "harmonic analysis," I mean the exercise/study of assigning Roman numerals to the chords within a piece of music, and extrapolating relationships and functions based on those chord numerals in relationship to each other. I have been performing this practice -- inconsistently, admittedly -- for a number of years when studying a new piece of music (often popular or jazz music).

I am coming to the conclusion that this practice does not seem to be of any use to me, but this is inconsistent with the conventional music theory wisdom. I truly wonder if I am missing some great epiphany which would make all the pieces fit together? Some personal observations:

1. Although I may go through the process of harmonic analysis of songs/progressions, once I have the chords of the song memorized, my brain is simply recalling the next chord or voicing when performing. Frankly, I don't feel like I can process fast enough to *think* in my head ("okay the next chord is a "three" chord, that is a minor chord, that chord is two full steps up from the root, the root is G, so the iii chord is Bm.") It seems much quicker to simply memorize that the next chord is a Bm.

2. I strive to do a better job of memorizing songs -- that would be my primary rationale for applying harmonic analysis -- and I feel like demanding memorization of the harmonic analysis is mainly just adding to the sheer amount of memorization effort, in addition to memorizing the chord progressions themselves.

3. Most profoundly for me, I find that the application of harmonic analysis itself has so very many twists and exceptions that I really have to wonder what the utility of this practice really is? Even in popular music which is simple to pay and memorize, when I try to apply harmonic analysis, I find so many exceptions to the basic diatonic key chords: Plagal cadence, borrowed chords, parallel harmony, secondary dominance, etc., all of which seem like various explanations for when classical harmonic analysis breaks down.

I don't want to be ignorant, but I am not seeing the utility in this harmonic analysis....yet I continue to hear/read as to how useful this process can be as a means of understanding / memorizing music. I am trying to understand is there really IS an end-game to this practice which is applicable to performance?

Insightful comments will be much appreciated.