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{{Short description|Structure of a piece of music}}
{{multiple issues|
{{technical|date=February 2025}}
{{Globalize|article|Western culture|date=August 2012}}
{{more citations needed|date=September 2011}}
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In music, '''''form''''' refers to the structure of a [[musical composition]] or [[musical improvisation|performance]]. In his book, ''Worlds of Music'', [[Jeff Todd Titon]] suggests that a number of organizational elements may determine the formal structure of a piece of music, such as "the arrangement of musical units of [[rhythm]], [[melody]], and/or [[harmony]] that show [[repetition (music)|repetition]] or [[variation (music)|variation]], the arrangement of the instruments (as in the order of [[solo (music)|solos]] in a jazz or bluegrass performance), or the way a symphonic piece is [[orchestration|orchestrated]]", among other factors.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Worlds of Music: An Introduction to the Music of the World's Peoples|last=Titon|first=Jeff Todd|publisher=Schirmer Cengage Learning|others=Cooley, Timothy J.|year=2009|isbn=978-0534595395|edition= 5th|location=Belmont, CA|oclc=214315557}}</ref> It is, "the ways in which a composition is shaped to create a meaningful musical experience for the listener."<ref name="K&P">Kostka, Stefan and Payne, Dorothy (1995). ''Tonal Harmony'', p.152. McGraw-Hill. {{ISBN|0-07-035874-5}}.</ref> 

{{Quote|"''Form'' refers to the largest shape of the composition. Form in music is the result of the interaction of the four structural elements described above [sound, harmony, melody, rhythm]."<ref name="B&S"/>}}

These organizational elements may be broken into smaller units called '''phrases''', which express a musical idea but lack sufficient weight to stand alone.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Musical Form and Analysis: Time, Pattern, Proportion|last=Spring|first=Glenn|publisher=Waveland Press|others=Hutcheson, Jere.|year=1995|isbn=978-1478607229|location=Long Grove, Illinois|pages={{Page needed|date=May 2020}}|oclc=882602291}}</ref> Musical form unfolds over time through the expansion and development of these ideas. In [[tonality|tonal harmony]], form is articulated primarily through [[cadence]]s, phrases, and [[period (music)|periods]].<ref name="K&P"/> "''Form'' refers to the larger shape of the composition. Form in music is the result of the interaction of the four structural elements," of sound, harmony, melody, and rhythm.<ref name="B&S">Benward, Bruce and Saker, Marilyn (2003). ''Music in Theory and Practice, Vol. 1'', p.87. McGraw-Hill. {{ISBN|0-07-294262-2}}.</ref>

Although, it has been recently stated that form can be present under the influence of musical contour, also known as '''Contouric Form.'''<ref>Saewitz, Scott, "WEBERN’S LABYRINTH: CONTOUR AND CANONIC INTERACTION– An Analysis of Webern’s Op. 16, No. 2" (2017). CUNY Academic Works.
http://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/159</ref> In 2017, Scott Saewitz brought attention to this concept by highlighting the occurrence in Anton Webern's Op.16 No.2. 

Compositions that do not follow a fixed structure and rely more on improvisation are considered '''free-form'''. A [[fantasia (music)|fantasia]] is an example of this.<ref>{{cite book|last=Taruskin|first=Richard|year=2009|title=Oxford History of Western Music|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=9780199813698|chapter='Songs' Without Words}}</ref> Composer [[Debussy]] in 1907 wrote that, "I am more and more convinced that music is not, in essence, a thing that can be cast into a traditional and fixed form. It is made up of colors and rhythms."<ref>Benward & Saker (2009). ''Music in Theory and Practice'', Vol. 2, p.266. McGraw-Hill. {{ISBN|978-0-07-310188-0}}.</ref>

==Labeling==
To aid in the process of describing form, musicians have developed a simple system of labeling musical units with letters. In his textbook ''Listening to Music'', professor [[Craig M. Wright|Craig Wright]] writes:
{{Quote| text=The first statement of a musical idea is designated '''A.''' Subsequent contrasting sections are labeled '''B, C, D,''' and so on. If the first or any other musical unit returns in varied form, then that variation is indicated by a superscript number—'''A<sup>1</sup>''' and '''B<sup>2</sup>,''' for example. Subdivisions of each large musical unit are shown by lowercase letters ('''a, b,''' and so on).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Listening to music|last=M.|first=Wright, Craig|date=2014|publisher=Schirmer/Cengage Learning|isbn=9781133954729|edition= 7th|location=Boston, MA|oclc=800033147|page=44}}</ref>}}

Some writers also use a prime label (such as '''B′''', pronounced "'''B prime'''", or  '''B″''', pronounced "'''B double prime'''") to denote sections that are closely related, but vary slightly.

==Levels of organization==
The founding level of musical form can be divided into two parts: 
* The arrangement of the [[Pulse (music)|pulse]] into [[Accent (music)|unaccented]] and accented [[Beat (music)|beats]], the [[Cell (music)|cells]] of a [[bar (music)|measure]] that, when [[Harmony (music)|harmonized]], may give rise to a [[Motif (music)|motif]] or [[Figure (music)|figure]].
* The further organization of such a measure, by repetition and [[Variation (music)|variation]], into a true musical '''phrase''' having a definite rhythm and duration that may be implied in melody and harmony, defined, for example, by a long final note and a breathing space. This "phrase" may be regarded as the fundamental unit of musical form: it may be broken down into measures of two or three beats, but its distinctive nature will then be lost. Even at this level, the importance of the principles of repetition and contrast, weak and strong, climax and repose, can be seen.<ref name="Macpherson">{{cite book|last=Macpherson |first=Stewart |author-link=Stewart Macpherson |title=Form in Music |edition=  New and Revised |year= 1930 |publisher= Joseph Williams |location=London |chapter=Form}}</ref>{{efn|See also: [[Meter (music)]]}} Thus, form may be understood on three levels of organization. For the purpose of this exposition, these levels can be roughly designated as ''passage'', ''piece'', and ''cycle''.

===Passage===
The smallest level of construction concerns the way musical phrases are organized into musical [[sentence (music)|sentences]] and "paragraphs" such as the [[Verse (music)|verse]] of a song. This may be compared to, and is often decided by, the [[verse form]] or meter of the words or the steps of a dance.

For example, the [[twelve bar blues]] is a specific verse form, while [[common meter]] is found in many hymns and ballads and, again, the Elizabethan [[galliard]], like many dances, requires a certain rhythm, pace and length of melody to fit its repeating pattern of steps. Simpler styles of music may be more or less wholly defined at this level of form, which therefore does not differ greatly from the loose sense first mentioned and which may carry with it rhythmic, harmonic, timbral, occasional and melodic conventions.

===Piece (or movement) ===
The next level concerns the entire structure of any single self-contained [[musical piece]] or movement. If the hymn, ballad, blues or dance alluded to above simply repeats the same musical material indefinitely then the piece is said to be in [[strophic form]] overall. If it repeats with distinct, sustained changes each time, for instance in setting, ornamentation or instrumentation, then the piece is a [[theme and variations]]. If two distinctly different themes are alternated indefinitely, as in a song alternating verse and [[Refrain|chorus]] or in the alternating slow and fast sections of the Hungarian [[czardas]], then this gives rise to a simple binary form. If the theme is played (perhaps twice), then a new theme is introduced, the piece then closing with a return to the first theme, we have a simple ternary form.

Great arguments and misunderstanding can be generated by such terms as 'ternary' and 'binary', as a complex piece may have elements of both at different organizational levels.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}} A [[minuet]], like any Baroque dance, generally had a simple binary structure ('''AABB'''), however, this was frequently extended by the introduction of another minuet arranged for solo instruments (called the ''trio''), after which the first was repeated again and the piece ended—this is a ternary form—'''ABA''': the piece is binary on the lower compositional level but ternary on the higher. Organisational levels are not clearly and universally defined in western musicology, while words like "section" and "passage" are used at different levels by different scholars whose definitions, as Schlanker{{Full citation needed|date=April 2016}} points out, cannot keep pace with the myriad innovations and variations devised by musicians.

===Cycle===
The grandest level of organization may be referred to as "[[#Cyclical forms|cyclical form]]".{{Citation needed|date=April 2016}} It concerns the arrangement of several self-contained pieces into a large-scale composition. For example, a set of songs with a related theme may be presented as a [[song-cycle]], whereas a set of [[Baroque dance]]s were presented as a [[Suite (music)|suite]]. The [[opera]] and [[ballet]] may organize song and dance into even larger forms. The symphony, generally considered to be one piece, nevertheless divides into multiple movements (which can usually work as a self-contained piece if played alone).  This level of musical form, though it again applies and gives rise to different genres, takes more account of the methods of musical organisation used. For example: a [[symphony]], a [[concerto]] and a [[sonata]] differ in scale and aim, yet generally resemble one another in the manner of their organization. The individual pieces which make up the larger form may be called [[Movement (music)|movements]].

== Common forms in Western music ==
Scholes suggested that European classical music had only six stand-alone forms: simple binary, simple ternary, compound binary, rondo, air with variations, and [[fugue]] (although musicologist [[Alfred Mann (musicologist)|Alfred Mann]] emphasized that the fugue is primarily a method of composition that has sometimes taken on certain structural conventions).<ref>{{cite book|last=Mann|first=Alfred|title=The Study of Fugue|year=1958|publisher=W.W.Norton and Co. Inc.}}</ref>

Charles Keil classified forms and formal detail as "sectional, developmental, or variational."<ref>{{cite book|last=Keil|first=Charles|title=Urban blues|url=https://archive.org/details/urbanblues0000keil|url-access=registration|year=1966|publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0-226-42960-1}}</ref>

===Sectional form===
This form is built from a sequence of clear-cut units<ref>{{cite book|last=Wennerstrom|first=Mary|editor=Wittlich, Gary|title=Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music|year=1975|publisher=Prentice-Hall|location=Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey |isbn=0-13-049346-5|chapter=Form in Twentieth Century Music|ref= CITEREFDeLone1975}}</ref> that may be referred to by letters but also often have generic names such as [[Introduction (music)|introduction]] and [[Coda (music)|coda]], exposition, development and [[recapitulation (music)|recapitulation]], verse, chorus or [[refrain]], and [[Bridge (music)|bridge]]. Sectional forms include:

====Strophic form====
{{Main|Strophic form}}
Strophic form – also called verse-repeating form, chorus form, AAA song form, or one-part song form – is a song structure in which all verses or stanzas of the text are sung to the same music

====Medley or "chain" form====

[[Medley (music)|Medley]], [[Potpourri (music)|potpourri]] or '''chain''' form is the extreme opposite, that of "unrelieved variation": it is simply an indefinite sequence of self-contained sections ('''ABCD'''...), sometimes with repeats ('''AABBCCDD'''...).

====Binary form====
{{Main|Binary form}}
[[File:Greensleeves.gif|alt=|thumb|"Greensleeves" as an example of Binary Form.]]
The term "Binary Form" is used to describe a musical piece with two sections that are about equal in length. Binary Form can be written as '''AB''' or '''AABB'''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Tonal Harmony with an Introduction to Twentieth-Century Music|last=Kostka, Payne|first=Stefan, Dorothy|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=2009|location=New York|pages=335}}</ref> Using the example of [[Greensleeves]] provided, the first system is almost identical to the second system. We call the first system '''A''' and the second system '''A′''' (A prime) because of the slight difference in the last measure and a half. The next two systems (3rd and 4th) are almost identical as well, but a new musical idea entirely than the first two systems. We call the third system '''B''' and the fourth system '''B'''' (B prime) because of the slight difference in the last measure and a half. As a whole, this piece of music is in Binary Form: '''AA′BB′'''.<ref name=":0" />

====Ternary form====
{{Main|Ternary form}}
Ternary form is a three-part musical form in which the third part repeats or at least contains the principal idea of the first part, represented as '''ABA'''.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Musical form|author=Ebenezer Prout|year=1893|location=London}}{{Full citation needed|date=September 2018}}<!--Book title, publisher, and a page reference are needed.--></ref> There are both simple and compound ternary forms. Da capo arias are usually in simple ternary form (i.e. "from the head"). A compound ternary form (or trio form) similarly involves an ABA pattern, but each section is itself either in binary (two sub-sections which may be repeated) or (simple) [[ternary form]].

====Rondo form====
{{Main|Rondo form}} 
This form has a recurring theme alternating with different (usually contrasting) sections called "episodes". It may be asymmetrical ('''ABACADAEA''') or symmetrical ('''ABACABA'''). A recurring section, especially the main theme, is sometimes more thoroughly varied, or else one episode may be a "development" of it. A similar arrangement is the [[ritornello]] form of the Baroque [[concerto grosso]]. [[Arch form]] ('''ABCBA''') resembles a symmetrical rondo without intermediate repetitions of the main theme.

====Variational form====
{{Main|Variation (music)}}
Variational forms are those in which variation is an important formative element.

'''[[Theme and Variations]]:''' a [[theme (music)|theme]], which in itself can be of any shorter form (binary, ternary, etc.), forms the only "section" and is repeated indefinitely (as in strophic form) but is varied each time (A,B,A,F,Z,A), so as to make a sort of sectional chain form. An important variant of this, much used in 17th-century British music and in the [[Passacaglia]] and [[Chaconne]], was that of the [[ground bass]]—a repeating bass theme or ''basso [[ostinato]]'' over and around which the rest of the structure unfolds, often, but not always, spinning [[polyphony|polyphonic]] or [[counterpoint|contrapuntal]] threads, or improvising [[division (music)|divisions]] and [[descant]]s. This is said by Scholes (1977) to be the form ''par excellence'' of unaccompanied or accompanied solo instrumental music. The [[Rondo]] is often found with sections varied ('''AA<sup>1</sup>BA<sup>2</sup>CA<sup>3</sup>BA<sup>4</sup>''') or ('''ABA<sup>1</sup>CA<sup>2</sup>B<sup>1</sup>A''').

====Sonata-allegro form====
{{Main|Sonata form}}
Sonata-allegro form (also ''sonata form'' or ''first movement form'') is typically cast in a greater ternary form, having the nominal subdivisions of ''exposition, development'' and ''recapitulation''. Usually, but not always, the "A" parts ([[Exposition (music)|exposition]] and [[Recapitulation (music)|recapitulation]], respectively) may be subdivided into two or three [[theme (music)|themes]] or theme groups which are taken asunder and recombined to form the "B" part (the [[Development (sonata form)|development]])—thus, e.g. (AabB[dev. of a and/or b]A<sup>1</sup>ab<sup>1</sup>+coda).

The sonata form is "the most important principle of musical form, or formal type from the classical period well into the twentieth century."<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004|isbn=978-0195170672}}</ref> It is usually used as the form of the first movement in multi-movement works. So, it is also called "first-movement form" or "sonata-allegro form" (because usually the most common first movements are in allegro tempo).<ref name="The Sonata Allegro Form">{{Cite web|url=https://courses.lumenlearning.com/musicappreciation_with_theory/chapter/the-sonata-allegro-form/|title=The Sonata Allegro Form|website=Lumen Music Appreciation}}</ref>

Each section of sonata form movement has its own function:

* It may have an ''[[Introduction (music)|introduction]]'' at the beginning.
* Following the introduction, the ''exposition'' is the first required section. It lays out the thematic material in its basic version. There are usually two themes or theme groups in the exposition, and they are often in contrasting styles and keys and connected by a transition. In the end of the exposition, there is a closing theme which concludes the section.
* The exposition is followed by the ''development'' section in which the material in the exposition is developed.
* After the development section, there is a returning section called ''recapitulation'' where the thematic material returns in the tonic key.
* At the end of the movement, there may be a ''[[Coda (music)|coda]]'', after the recapitulation.<ref name="The Sonata Allegro Form" />

== Forms used in Western popular music ==
{{further|Song structure (popular music)}}
Some forms are used predominantly within popular music, including genre-specific forms. Popular music forms are often derived from strophic form (AAA song form), 32-bar form (AABA song form), verse-chorus form (AB song form) and 12-bar blues form (AAB song form).<ref name= "Songstuff">{{Cite web|url=https://www.songstuff.com/songwriting/article/song-form-overview/|title=A Guide To Song Forms – Song Form Overview|website=Songstuff|date=12 March 2025 }}</ref>

===Sectional forms===

* AABA a.k.a. American Popular
* AB a.k.a. Verse/Chorus
** ABC a.k.a. Verse/Chorus/Bridge
* ABAB
* ABAC a.k.a. Verse/Chorus/Verse/Bridge
* ABCD a.k.a. [[Through-composed]]
* Blues Song forms
** AAB a.k.a. [[Twelve-bar blues]]
** 8-Bar Blues
** 16-Bar Blues
See <ref name="Songstuff"/>

===Extended forms===
Extended form are forms that have their root in one of the forms above, however, they have been extended with additional sections. For example:

* AAAAA
* AABABA

===Compound forms===
Also called Hybrid song forms. Compound song forms blend together two or more song forms.<ref name="Songstuff"/>

===Section names in popular music===
{{main article|Song structure#Verse–chorus form}}
* Introduction a.k.a. Intro
* Verse
* Refrain
* Pre-chorus / Rise / Climb
* Chorus
* Post-chorus
* Bridge
* Middle-Eight
* Solo / Instrumental Break
* Collision
* CODA / Outro
* Ad Lib (Often in CODA / Outro)

==Cyclical forms==
In the 13th century the [[song cycle]] emerged, which is a set of related songs (as the suite is a set of related dances). The [[oratorio]] took shape in the second half of the 16th century as a narrative recounted—rather than acted—by the singers.{{Clarify|date=September 2017}}<!--What exactly does this statement have to do with musical form?-->

==See also==
* [[Developing variation]]
* [[List of musical genres by era]]
* [[Musical analysis]]
* [[Program music]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Chester|1970}}|reference=Chester, Andrew. 1970. "Second Thoughts on a Rock Aesthetic: The Band". ''The New Left Review'' 1, no. 62 (July–August): 78–79. Reprinted in ''On Record: Rock, Pop, and the Written Word'', edited by Simon Frith and Andrew Goodwin, 315–19. New York: Pantheon, 1990.}}
*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Keil|1987}}|reference=Keil, Charles. 1987. "Participatory Discrepancies and the Power of Music". ''Cultural Anthropology'' 2, No. 3 (August): 275–83.}}
*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Cadwallader|1990}}|reference=Cadwallader, Allen. 1990. "Form and Tonal Process. The Design of Different Structural Levels". ''Trends in Schenkerian Research'', A. Cadwallader ed. New York, etc.: Schirmer Books: 1-21.}}
*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Laskowski|1990}}|reference=Laskowski, Larry. 1990. "J.S. Bach's 'Binary' Dance Movements: Form and Voice-Leading", ''Schenker Studies'', H. Siegel ed. Cambridge: CUP: 84-93.}}
*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Schmalfeldt|1991}}|reference=Schmalfeldt, Janet. 1991. "Towards a Reconciliation of Schenkerian Concepts with Traditional and Recent Theories of Form", ''Music Analysis'' 10: 233–287.}}
*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Beach|1993}}|reference=Beach, David. 1993. "Schubert's Experiments with Sonata Form: Formal-Tonal Design versus Underlying Structure", ''Music Theory Spectrum'' 15: 1-18.}}
*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Smith|1994}}|reference=Smith, Peter. 1994. "Brahms and Schenker: A Mutual Response to Sonata Form", ''Music Theory Spectrum'' 16: 77-103.}}
*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Smith|1996}}|reference=Smith, Charles J. 1996. "Musical Form and Fundamental Structure: An Investigation of Schenker's Formenlehre". ''Music Analysis'' 15: 191-297.}}
*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Burnham|2001}}|reference=Burnham, Scott. 2001. "Form", ''Cambridge History of Western Music Theory'', Th. Christensen ed. Cambridge: CUP: 880-906.}}
*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Webster|2009}}|reference=Webster, James. 2009. "Formenlehre in Theory and Practice", ''Musical Form, Forms, and Formenlehre: Three Methodological Reflections'', P. Bergé ed. Leuven: LUP: 123-139.}}
*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Hooper|2011}}|reference=Hooper, Jason. 2011. "Heinrich Schenker's Early Conception of Form, 1895-1914". ''Theory and Practice'' 36: 35-64.}}
*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Schmalfeldt|2011}}|reference=Schmalfeldt, Janet. 2011. ''In the Process of Becoming: Analytic and Philosophical Perspectives on Form in Early Nineteenth-Century Music'', New York: Oxford University Press.}}
*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Cecchi|2015}}|reference=Cecchi, Alessandro (ed.). 2015. ''Schenker's Formenlehre''. ''Rivista di Analisi e Teoria Musicale'' XXI, No. 2.}}

== External links ==
{{wikiquote}}
* [https://archive.org/details/cu31924022495018 <!-- quote=lessons in music form. --> Lessons in Music Form by Percy Goetschius, 1904]
* [http://www.robertkelleyphd.com/form.htm Study Guide for Musical Form: A Complete Outline of Standardized Formal Categories and Concepts by Robert T. Kelley] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190111205950/http://www.robertkelleyphd.com/form.htm |date=2019-01-11 }}
* [http://alanbelkinmusic.com/bk/index.html A Practical Guide to Musical Composition by Alan Belkin]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090715170614/http://www.rem.ufpr.br/REMv9-1/kokoras.html Morphopoiesis: A General Procedure for Structuring Form by Panayiotis Kokoras]

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