Song structure (popular music)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The structures or musical forms of songs in popular music are typically sectional forms, such as strophic form. Other common forms include thirty-two-bar form, verse-chorus form, and twelve bar blues. Popular music songs are rarely through-composed.
The verse and chorus are considered primary, while the introduction and coda or ending may or may not be used in different performances and are not considered essential to the identity of most songs. A bridge is slightly more important. The verse and chorus are usually repeated throughout a song though the bridge, intro, and outro are usually only used once.
Contents |
[edit] Verse
- Main article: Verse.
In popular music a verse roughly corresponds with a poetic stanza. When two or more sections of the song have basically identical music and different lyrics these sections are probably the verses of the song.
[edit] Chorus
- Main article: Refrain.
Chorus is used to mean the refrain of a song, which often sharply contrasts the verse melodically, rhythmically, and harmonically, and assumes a higher level of dynamics and activity, often with added instrumentation. Chorus form, or strophic form, is a sectional and/or additive way of structuring a piece of music based on the repetition of one formal section or block played repeatedly.
When two or more sections of the song have basically identical music and lyrics these sections are probably instances of the chorus.
[edit] Bridge
- Main article: Bridge (music).
In song writing, a bridge is an interlude that connects two parts of that song, building a harmonic connection between those parts.
Normally you should have heard the verse at least twice. The bridge may then replace the 3rd verse or precede it. In the latter case it delays an expected chorus. The chorus after the bridge is usually last and is often repeated in order to stress that it is final.
If and when you expect a verse or a chorus and you get something that is musically and lyrically different from both verse and chorus, it is most likely the bridge.
[edit] Vocal Runs
A Vocal Run is a melismatic variation on the chorus of a song. It is mostly used at the end or beginning of a song and adds a new layer to a chorus.
[edit] AABA form
- Main article: Thirty-two-bar form.
Thirty-two-bar form uses four sections, most often eight measures long each (4×8=32), two verses or A sections, a contrasting B section, the bridge or "middle-eight", and a return of the verse in one last A section (AABA).
[edit] Variation on the basic structure
Verse-chorus form or ABA form may be combined with AABA form, in compound AABA forms. a1 and a2 can also be used
[edit] Twelve bar blues and other chord progressions
- Main article: chord progression.
Sections are often defined through the use of different chord progressions in different sections. However, the repetition of one chord progression may mark off the only section in a simple verse form such as the twelve bar blues.
[edit] Musaic
Definition: The creation of an audible collage of music - or the use of color, shape and substance to embody a musical concept.
[edit] Further reading
- Sheila Davis. "The Craft of Lyric Writing", Writer's Digest Books (1985)
- Sheila Davis. "Successful Lyric Writing", Writer's Digest Books (1988)
- Sheila Davis. "The Songwriter's Idea Book", Writer's Digest Books (1992)
- Richard Middleton. "Form", in Horner, Bruce and Swiss, Thomas, eds. (1999) Key Terms in Popular Music and Culture. Malden, Massachusetts. ISBN 0-631-21263-9.
- Covach, John. "Form in Rock Music: A Primer", in Stein, Deborah (2005). Engaging Music: Essays in Music Analysis. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-517010-5.
- Everett, Walter, ed. Rock Music: Critical Essays on Composition, Performance, Analysis, and Reception.
- Covach, John and Boone, Graham, eds. Understanding Rock: Essays in Musical Analysis.
