Form
is the key that unlocks the musical map of a song
or a musical compostition. Like a house has rooms,
so a song has rooms or sections.
Chord
progressions come in sections, like one room in a
house. You can put several different rooms together
to make a big house, or you can live in a one room
house. Just like people. In most 3rd world countries
people live in one room houses -- which means, of
course, that much of the world lives in one-room houses.
Those
of us who live in the West generally live in multi-room
houses.
But
there are also musical houses -- we call them songs
-- that are built out of several different rooms --
several different chord progressions. Some of them,
like mansions and castles, go on and on and get quite
involved.
But
most songs are like many modest houses -- they have
2 or 3 rooms, sometimes 4 -- built using 2 or 3 or
4 different chord progressions.
Each
"room" in a musical house is called a theme,
or a "motif". The first theme is always
called "A". The next theme is called "B",
the next theme is called "C", and so on.
Most songs only have 2 or 3 themes, but these themes
often repeat.
For
example, let's say we have a chord progression that
goes like this:
C Am7
Dm7 G7
...and
then it repeats those same 4 chords...
and
then we have another chord progression that goes like
this: Gm7 C7 F Fm7 Bb7 Eb G7
...and
then the first chord progression is used again as
the song ends.
This
song would have a musical form of A, A, B, A -- main
theme, repeat of main theme, contrasting theme, main
theme.
If
a song went like this:
Theme
contrast theme
…it
would be known as ABA musical form
If
a song went like this:
Theme,
theme, contrast, theme
….then
the song would be in AABA musical form
The
"B" section of a song is sometimes called
the "bridge", or the "release",
or the "chorus". These terms usually mean
the same thing -- depending upon the form used.
Can
you guess what this might be called?
Theme
- contrast - theme - contrast - theme - contrast -
theme - contrast
Right
you are! A B A B form.
This
is also known as "verse-chorus" form.
Most
popular songs fall into one of these forms:
A B
A
A A B A
A B A C A
A B A B
Why
should you care?
Because
if you know songs are constructed this way, you can
look at songs with smart eyes -- you know what to
look for, and once you determine the form, you have
a "mental map" of the song -- you're not
just wandering from chord to chord anymore.
In
addition, most songs are proportional. That is --
4 bars of section A, then 4 bars of section B, then
another 4 bars of section A, and so on. You will find
TONS and TONS of popular songs that are 32 bars long
in A A B A form -- 8 bars of theme A, 8 bars of theme
A repeated, then a bridge of 8 bars, finishing with
8 bars of theme A.
Does
that give you an advantage knowing that?
It
gives you a HUGE advantage because you know what to
look for, and you know that if you learn theme A you
have automatically learned 75% of the song! All that
remains is to learn the 8 bars of the bridge, and
you've got it!
And
that's why you need to learn about form.
Duane
Shinn is the author of over 500 music books and
music educational materials such as DVD's, CD's,
musical games for kids, chord charts, musical software,
and piano lesson instructional courses for adults.
His courses have been written up in hundreds of
newspapers and magazines. His book-CD-DVD course
titled "How To Play Chord Piano" (http://www.chordpiano.com)
has sold over 100,000 copies around the world. He
holds an advanced degree from Southern Oregon University
and was the founder of Piano University in Southern
Oregon. He has also logged time as an assistant
music therapist, piano tuner, and working piano
player. He is the author of the popular free 101-week
e-mail newsletter titled "Amazing Secrets Of Exciting
Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions" with
over 55,000 current subscribers. Those interested
may obtain a free subscription by going to http://www.playpiano.com/
(Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/)
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