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he term musical form (or musical architecture) refers to the overall structure or plan of a piece of music,[1] and it describes the layout of a composition as divided into sections.[2] In the tenth edition of The Oxford Companion to Music, Percy Scholes defines musical form as "a series of strategies designed to find a successful mean between the opposite extremes of unrelieved repetition and unrelieved alteration."[3]
Musicologist Richard Middleton describes form through repetition and difference: difference is the distance moved from a repeat; a repeat being the smallest difference. Difference is quantitative and qualitative; how far different and what type of difference. According to Middleton, musical form is "the shape or structure of the work." In many cases, form depends on statement and restatement, unity and variety, and contrast and connection.[4]
Contents [hide]
1 Levels of organization
1.1 Passage
1.2 Pieces
1.3 Cycle
2 Single forms
2.1 Sectional form
2.1.1 Strophic form
2.1.2 Medley or "chain" form
2.1.3 Binary form
2.1.4 Ternary form
2.1.5 Rondo form
2.2 Variational form
2.3 Developmental form
2.3.1 Sonata-Allegro form
3 Cyclical forms
4 More recent developments
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
Levels of organization[edit]
The founding level of musical form can be divided into two parts:
The arrangement of the pulse into accented and unaccented beats, the cells of a measure that, when harmonized, may give rise to a motif or figure.
The further organization of such a measure, by repetition and 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 formal unit of music: 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
Musicologist Richard Middleton describes form through repetition and difference: difference is the distance moved from a repeat; a repeat being the smallest difference. Difference is quantitative and qualitative; how far different and what type of difference. According to Middleton, musical form is "the shape or structure of the work." In many cases, form depends on statement and restatement, unity and variety, and contrast and connection.[4]
Contents [hide]
1 Levels of organization
1.1 Passage
1.2 Pieces
1.3 Cycle
2 Single forms
2.1 Sectional form
2.1.1 Strophic form
2.1.2 Medley or "chain" form
2.1.3 Binary form
2.1.4 Ternary form
2.1.5 Rondo form
2.2 Variational form
2.3 Developmental form
2.3.1 Sonata-Allegro form
3 Cyclical forms
4 More recent developments
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
Levels of organization[edit]
The founding level of musical form can be divided into two parts:
The arrangement of the pulse into accented and unaccented beats, the cells of a measure that, when harmonized, may give rise to a motif or figure.
The further organization of such a measure, by repetition and 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 formal unit of music: 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
References: edit] Jump up ^ Schmidt-Jones, Catherine (11 March 2011) Jump up ^ Brandt, Anthony (11 January 2007). "Musical Form". Connexions. Retrieved 11 September 2011. Jump up ^ Scholes, Percy A. (1977). "Form". The Oxford Companion to Music (10 ed.). Oxford University Press. Jump up ^ Middleton, Richard (1999). "Form". In Horner, Bruce; Swiss, Thomas. Key Terms in Popular Music and Culture. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 0-631-21263-9. Jump up ^ Macpherson, Stewart (1930). "Form". Form in Music (New and Revised ed.). London: Joseph Williams. Jump up ^ Macpherson, Stewart (1930). "Form". Form in Music (New and Revised ed.). London: Joseph Williams. Jump up ^ Mann, Alfred (1958). The Study of Fugue. W.W.Norton and Co. Inc. Jump up ^ Keil, Charles (1966). Urban blues. ISBN 0-226-42960-1. Jump up ^ Wennerstrom, Mary (1975). "Form in Twentieth Century Music". In Wittlich, Gary. Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-049346-5. Jump up ^ White, John D. (1976). The Analysis of Music, p.50. ISBN 0-13-033233-X. Jump up ^ Lerdahl, Fred (1992). "Cognitive Constraints on Compositional Systems". Contemporary Music Review 6 (2): 97–121. doi:10.1080/07494469200640161. Jump up ^ Forte, Allen (1973). The Structure of Atonal Music. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-02120-2. Lessons in Music Form by Percy Goetschius, 1904 Study Guide for Musical Form: A Complete Outline of Standardized Formal Categories and Concepts by Robert T