Song forms

An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics, or singing, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a Big Band setting.

A barcarole (from French, also barcarolle; originally, Italian barcarola or barcaruola, from barca 'boat' ) is a folk song sung by Venetian gondoliers, or a piece of music composed in that style.

(For "chorale" (a group of singers) and "choral music", see Choir.)("Carols" redirects here. For the Ayumi Hamasaki song, see Carols (song).) A carol is in modern parlance a festive song, generally religious but not necessarily connected with church worship, and often with a dance-like or popular character.

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a previously recorded, commercially released song by someone other than the original artist or composer.

An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries.

A refrain (from Vulgar Latin refringere, "to repeat", and later from Old French refraindre) is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song.

A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a partsong, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras.

A lullaby, or cradle song, is a soothing song or piece of music, usually played for or sung to children.

Spirituals (or Negro spirituals) are generally Christian songs that were created by African slaves in the United States.

The thirty-two-bar form, also known as the AABA song form, American popular song form and the ballad form, is a song structure commonly found in Tin Pan Alley songs and other American popular music, especially in the first half of the twentieth century.

Recitative (/ˌrɛsɪtəˈtiːv/, also known by its Italian name "recitativo" ([retʃitaˈtiːvo])) is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech.

The lauda (Italian pl. laude) or lauda spirituale was the most important form of vernacular sacred song in Italy in the late medieval era and Renaissance.

Whale sounds are used by whales for different kinds of communication.

Dumka (Ukrainian: думка, dúmka, plural думки, dúmky) is a musical term introduced from the Ukrainian language, with cognates in other Slavic languages.

A playground song is a song sung by children, usually on a playground or other children's gathering place.

A repeat after me song (also known as an echo song) is a type of song where a leader sings a verse followed by the audience repeating what he/she says.

Canción ("song") is a popular genre of Latin American music, particularly in Cuba, where many of the compositions originate.

A vaudeville is a French satirical poem or song born of the 17th and 18th centuries.

A love song is a song about being in love, falling in love, heartbreak upon the ending of a loving relationship, and the feelings that these experiences bring.

A mutu is a type of improvised sung poetry found in Sardinia.

A dirge is a somber song or lament expressing mourning or grief, such as would be appropriate for performance at a funeral.

Song poem usually refers to song lyrics that have been set to music for a fee.

The beste is a vocal genre in Ottoman classical music.

A children's song may be a nursery rhyme set to music, a song that children invent and share among themselves or a modern creation intended for entertainment, use in the home or education.

The galerón is a genre of Venezuelan typical song.

Gambhira (Bengali: গম্ভীরা) is a type of song (originating in Chapai Nawabganj, in the Northern region of Bangladesh).

A ballade (from French ballade, French pronunciation: ​[baˈlad], and German Ballade, German pronunciation: [baˈlaːdə], both being words for "ballad"), in classical music since the late 18th century, refers to a setting of a literary ballad, a narrative poem, in the musical tradition of the Lied, or to a one-movement instrumental piece with lyrical and dramatic narrative qualities reminiscent of such a song setting, especially a piano ballad.

The patter song is characterised by a moderately fast to very fast tempo with a rapid succession of rhythmic patterns in which each syllable of text corresponds to one note.

A chanson (French pronunciation: ​[ʃɑ̃sɔ̃], "song", from Latin cantio, gen. cantionis) is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular.

The Air de cour was a popular type of secular vocal music in France in the late Renaissance and early Baroque period, from about 1570 until around 1650.

An answer song (or response song) is, as the name suggests, a song (usually a recorded track) made in answer to a previous song, normally by another artist.

The Song and Trio form is often referred as Compound Ternary form.

Cantastoria (pronounced [ˌkantaˈstɔːrja]; also spelled cantastorie [ˌkantaˈstɔːrje], canta storia or canta historia) comes from Italian for "story-singer" and is known by many other names around the world.

The Gstanzl (Viennese German for "stanza") is a traditional type of mocking songs particularly known in the Austrian-Bavarian regions.

A broadside (also known as a broadsheet) is a single sheet of inexpensive paper printed on one side, often with a ballad, rhyme, news and sometimes with woodcut illustrations.

A consort song was a characteristic English song form of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, for solo voice or voices accompanied by a group of instruments, most commonly viols.

Cavalier song is a Jacobean and Carolinian genre of song, a later equivalent to Elizabethan lute song.

Chanson pour boire is a term for a French drinking song, frequently coupled with chanson pour danser (or "song for dancing").

Little Jock Elliot is Border ballad of indeterminate age with at least two variants.

The lute song was a generic form of music in the late Renaissance and very early Baroque eras, generally consisting of a singer accompanying himself on a lute, though lute songs may often have been performed by a singer and a separate lutenist.