An Analysis of “Phenomenon” by Narong Prangcharoen

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to analyze the composition “Phenomenon” by Narong Prangcharoen in order to study the concepts and the uses of melody including other aspects related to the composition. The scopes of this study were limited to the analysis of the composition’s structure, main raw materials and their uses in various dimensions. Thus, only the music itself and its development were taken into consideration. However, as the composition is regarded as one of the twentieth-century music which consists of various concepts, methods, and techniques, then any sole theory cannot be used for the analysis. Consequently, the researcher had decided to use appropriate concepts of music corresponding to each element. The study showed that the composition “Phenomenon” by Narong Prangcharoen used two main raw materials: the ordered hexachord and the motive. While the structure and the relation of the former conformed with the creation of the theme and the thematic fragmentation which had tritone as their crucial basic element, the latter was used as the rhythmic fragmentation also found other interesting aspects indicating the characteristics of the twentieth-century music.