Chapter 8
Focus:
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Identifying musical design
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Sectional designs
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Text as a design feature
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Non-traditional designs
Outline
Form: The Architecture of Music
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In the last few chapters we have discovered that melody and harmony work together to create a
sense of tonality in many musical compositions.
Form is the overall design of a musical work that can be heard by the listener.
Composers strive to create a form that is clear and obvious to all sorts of listeners by achieving a
balance between loud and soft, repetition and contrast, high and low and all other aspects of
musical composition.
Conventions of Identifying Form
 The keys to recognition of form are repetition, variation, and contrast.
 We use letters for the identification of the parts of a musical form.
o Letter A is used to identify the first formal section.
o Letter B, C and so on represent each subsequent contrasting section.
o Repeated sections are signified by a return of the appropriate letter.
o The repeat of a capital letter indicates both the same music and the same words, while a
small letter shows that the music is the same but the text is different.
o A repetition of a section that is somewhat different but still recognizable, a variation, is
labeled A’.
? “Star Spangled Banner,” Francis Scott Key
Sectional Forms
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Most music, like the “Star Spangled Banner,” uses a plan that balances repetition and variation so
the listener hears it as organized.
One common way of creating this balance is returning to opening thematic material at the end of a
work.
Ternary Form
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The simplest of the formal patterns is the ternary form, represented by the letters ABA.
In works such as operas, cantatas and oratorios, featured solos for singers often use this form
which is then called a da capo aria.
o Da capo is abbreviated “D.C.” which literally means “from the head.” It instructs you to
return to the beginning of the piece to repeat the opening section.
o Da capo was used in operas as early as the seventeenth century to save the composer the
unnecessary labor of writing out the return of the A section.
A larger version of ternary form that is used in instrumental concert music from Western Europe is
sonata form.
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We will study this form in greater detail in later chapters. Here it is important to know that, in its
simplest form, sonata form is ABA.
? Eine kleine Nachtmusik, First Movement, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The Refrain Idea – Rondo Form
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Another formal idea that involves the return of opening musical material is the refrain idea.
Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly is an example of this technique.
In this carol, each line of poetry is followed by what is known in the English madrigal tradition as
a “fa-la” refrain
o Here, the first two refrains are the same, the third is quite different in pitch, and last
brings the form to a close.
o The overall form is AaBa with “fa-la” refrains ending each section.
Rondo form is like the refrain in reverse: the original A returns after each new section of music.
Rondo form typically has a minimum of five sections represented by the letters ABACA.
? Piano Sonata K. 545 in C Major, Third Movement, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Variation Technique
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In this form, an original idea is stated and then repeated a number of times; each repetition is in
some way a variation of the original melody.
There is typically a return to the original material toward the end of the variations that brings
closure to the work.
Variation technique may employ a theme, chord progressions, or even a bass line as its basis.
Variation technique is used frequently in jazz music.
o The variations are usually improvised by the performer rather than composed.
o Performers will read the music from a “fake book” which provides the theme and the
chord progressions for a number of jazz tunes.
o A significant amount of jazz is based on a blues progression, other aspects of jazz style,
or both.
? 12-bar blues performance
Text as Determinant
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Not all music employs an abstract form such as ternary or theme and variations, as a way to create
order. For some music, like the Star Spangled Banner, a text imposes it order on the music.
The chant of various religions from around the world is one of the most basic examples of this
form. Text provides the structure in chant as follows:
o The natural rhythms and inflections of words create the rhythms and pitches in these
chants
o Words are organized into formalized rhythmic patterns, which create the rhythmic
organization of the music.
Rap music is another example of this type of form although pitch is not a significant factor.
? The Muezzin’s Call to Prayer, Adhan
Strophic Form
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Many songs use a structure called strophic in which each stanza of text is sung to the same music.
Examples of strophic music include the hymns of Catholic liturgy, the chorales and hymns of the
Protestant faiths, and many patriotic songs.
The easiest way to understand this formal pattern is to visualize a page in a church hymnbook. In
most instances one version of the music is set with four or even six verses of text.
It is important to remember that while there may be an introduction to a piece in strophic form
there should not be any contrasting sections between verses.
? “Chester,” William Billings
New Ways of Ordering Music
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For much of the twentieth century composers were pre-occupied with finding new, original ways
of organizing music, as well as creating new sources of sound.
While none of these methods have replaced traditional methods of composing, chance music,
minimalism and the use of electronic sound sources have had a significant impact on musical
form.
Chance Music
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Chance music has always been a part of nearly all music cultures.
Live performances of music differ each time depending on the performer, the conductor, the
moods of the performers, and their health on the day of the performance or the condition of their
instrument.
Improvised music, or music from the many oral traditions of the world are by design even more
likely to vary form performance to performance.
Indeterminacy, a type of chance music, involves instructions or actions taken by the composer or
performer that result in an unpredictable musical outcome.
Indeterminacy was hinted at as early as 1751 when a composer named John Hayes proposed
composing by spattering ink on a staff.
? 4’33”, John Cage
Minimalism
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Minimalism involves using limited musical materials in a texture that features few (minimal)
changes in rhythm, melody and harmony.
This typically involves repeating musical ideas with an occasional change of a single feature, and
it often results in a kind of hypnotic effect.
Unlike traditional music, minimal music does not seem to be rushing forward through a series of
themes or creating harmonic and rhythmic intensity, but rather presents a uniform tapestry that
features occasional subtle changes.
? Martin Luther King, Jr., Act III, Part 3, Satyagraha, Philip Glass
Form in Electronic Music
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Technology has provided the means to produce limitless timbres and rhythms that can be
performed at unimaginable speeds.
This has enabled composers to create soundscapes in which timbre, rhythm and simultaneous
sounds are explored in entirely new ways.
? Silver Apples of the Moon, Morton Subotnick
It may be helpful to check CD liner notes or program notes for live performances for hints about how the
music is structured. More than anything, listen carefully for repetition, variation, and contrast, and let your
ear be the guide.