Musical Form
When we listen to music we need to pay attention to the ways the music is constructed - tones create melodies, and harmonies support these melodies. Good composers also pay attention to the bigger picture, the FORM of the music. In the earliest music of the Greeks, you might recall that the music was created in a verse and chorus form. This is the form - AB. Many popular songs use this format; the performer sings a verse (same melody with the different words) and each verse is followed by a chorus (a contrasting melody). Some music (usually shorter music) is written as a whole - it does not have different parts; this music would have the form of A.
Listen to these short examples
A - 
Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, Prelude in G-Major
ABA - Morley - Sing We and Chant It 
AABA - Clementi Opus 36
On YouTube | Click here if video above is blocked
One of the most important elements of Classical music is the form of music; the way the music is constructed. The most important form was the Sonata form. The basic structure of the sonata form are 3 main parts:
- exposition
- development
- recapitulation
- (coda)
|
 |
On YouTube | Click here if video above is blocked
| Watch these 2 videos where Leonard Bernstein (famous composer and conductor) explains Sonata form |
| Part1
On YouTube | Click here if video above is blocked | Click here for transcript
|
Part 2
On YouTube | Click here if video above is blocked | Click here for transcript
|
On YouTube | Click here if video above is blocked |
Assignment #2 - R U inFORMed
Take a Quiz over Form - watch the video to the left before you take the quiz.
In the quiz you will need to list the measure number where sections start.
For example: in 'Deck the Halls'
- Section A starts in measure 1,
- Section B starts in measure 9, and the
- recapitulation (Second A) starts in measure 13)
Identify ABA form in music - and answer 4 questions about the form lesson.
This quiz is NOT contained in Canvas - it is a google drive form. You will answer the questions in a google form and then submit that. THEN - you need to go into Canvas and in this assignment you need to type in the comment section of this assignment "I did it" and then click submit. This quiz is not automatically graded; you will need to wait until I grade this before you know what your score is. If I have not graded your submission in 36 hours of you typing in "I did it" in Canvas, send me an email asking me to grade it!!This quiz is not automatically graded; you will need to wait until I grade this before you know what your score is.
Click here to take the quiz.
|