Music Form and Analysis

Musical form relates to the structure of a given piece, its themes and the relationship between each theme. There are many varieties of form used in music, both popular and classical.

## Contents

* 1 Verses and Choruses
* 2 Binary
* 3 Ternary
* 4 Rondo
* 5 Canon
* 6 See Also

## Verses and Choruses

[edit | edit source]

Most popular music is shaped around verses and choruses. Each verse has different words [and sometimes different melody and harmonies as well] while the chorus [generally] remains constant. Forms include VVCVCVC… [V-verse C-chorus], CVCV… CC, and variations thereof.

## Binary

[edit | edit source]

In binary music, there are just two different themes ~~which appear only once~~[1], one after the other like this:

## Ternary

[edit | edit source]

Ternary music has two themes, one of which appears twice, like this:

ABA

## Rondo

[edit | edit source]

A rondo [rondeau] works as bit like the Verse Chorus form of popular music today. ~~It is also called Ritornello.~~[2]

ABACADA

## Canon

[edit | edit source]

A canon has a repeated melody line which starts at the same pitch, where each entry is delayed by a few notes. A canon must work so that the harmonies match.

## See Also

[edit | edit source]

* Wikipedia: Musical Form

* Grasping the Whole Composition cnx.org

1. ↑ Needs revising; does not consider simple, rounded, continuous, or sectional binary designs.
2. ↑ Rewrite; Ritornello is episode-based and typically used for fugue design.