FORM is the horizontal structure of a piece of music- the “what happens when” aspect. There are two overall types of forms: a linear form and a cyclical form.
A linear form has changes noticeably throughout the work and usually has different sections, such a verse or a chorus. Linear forms may have more than one contrasting tunes, and its sections may repeat and return after contrasts. We can hear a clear beginning and a clear end that sound different from each other.
Linear forms use several different types of events:
- Repetition – when the tune comes back exactly.
- Variation – when the tune comes back with something slightly altered.
- Contrast – when a new tunes comes in.
- Return – when an old tune comes back after a contrasting tune.
We can use an easy short-hand type of a diagram to give an overall picture of what happens in a piece by using letters to represent each of these types of events. We call the first tune A and use different letters to identify subsequent contrasting tunes: B for the second tune, C for the third tune, and so forth. We can use a tick mark (or apostrophe) as an indication that something is different -that we have a variation. A’ for an A that is a bit different than it was originally, but still clearly the same tune; we can use multiple marks if there is more than one variation: A A’ A” A”’ and so forth.
The song “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” has two different smaller tunes in it. We hear the first one twice, then the second, shorter one, twice, then the first one again. We would diagram it like this: AA BB A.
This song about Yitzhak Rabin by Israeli musician Yair Dalal combines formal aspects of both traditional Arabic music and Western popular music.
As many traditional Arabic pieces begin, this song begins with an unmetered introduction with just one instrument, the Arabic Oud, improvising on a melody. This then coalesques into a metered motive with three notes rising, then descending, then three similar notes rising and descending again. This motive is heard twice. At the end of this short instrumental introduction, the voice comes in on the main melody. After the first phrase, we hear the motive again (I’m going to label this motive m), and then he sings a close variation of the melody, then a contrasting tune, and then a short alternate variation on our original tune. This section he sings is diagrammed A A’ B A”. After this section he plays a short instrumental interlude based on our original instrumental motive m, to which he sings along a little. He then sings his next verse to the same tune, and we hear A A’ B A” again. After this section, he concludes the song with an instrumental outro improvising on the instrumental motive m many times. We can diagram the entire piece:
Introduction m A A’ B A” (m) A A’ B A” Outro/m.
Another type of linear form is the developmental form, in which the melody is not repeated or returned exactly, but rather it is used a the foundation of elaboration. One goal of these pieces is invention and expression. The composer and performer convey the emotions and ideas they want to expression through their inventive changes and decoration of the melody. Types of pieces that rely on improvisation (spontaneous creation based on set musical materials) – like Indian Raga and American Jazz are developmental. As listeners we focus on the changes and description is more useful than diagrams.
For example, here is a short description of Raga Mishra Mand, a North Indian instrumental piece based on improvisation of an Indian Scale, or rag. Notice in that the description focuses on how the main melody is treated through time.
In Raga Mishra Mand, the melodic line of the piece begins almost immediately after the drone begins, played on a string instrument capable of bending pitches extremely far.
It begins with a set of phrases that alternate in a pattern; first in contours down, then it stays fairly straight for a line, then it contours up, then it stays straight again. This pattern continues until the drums enter, and it has a wide range as a whole section though a narrow range within each line, as well as a conjunct character within the line but disjunct movement between the separate lines (disjunct means that the notes are far apart from each other).
For an extremely large chunk of the piece, after the opening section, the same basic melodic line is played, but each time it is accompanied by different types and different amounts of ornamentation, the amount slowly increasing each time it is played. The first time the line is played very simply; it contours up for the first half of the line, then contours straight down for the second half, returning to the note on which it began. The range is quite wide, around an octave, and the character is somewhat disjunct. Then, each consecutive time the line is replayed (a section that lasts almost seven minutes), there are a different sent of ornamentations the performer will use to elaborate on that melodic line. Sometimes they will be note ornamentation: he will play a certain svara, add notes in between the basic melodic line, or elaborate on a specific pitch, devoting more time to it than he had in the original phrase. Sometimes the ornamentations will be rhythmic, where he will alter the rhythm slightly. This gives the effect of sometimes hearing the melody in a conjunct way and sometimes in a disjunct way. Occasionally the melody will almost be unrecognizable with its added pieces, but when it begins and ends you can hear the same basic progression from note to note
There is a large break between this section and the next, but when the string instrument reenters it replays a different theme that contours upward for the most part with small jumps down. It then mimics the contour of the main section by moving steadily up and down, but with a conjunct motion and at a much faster tempo, with a wider range.
The use of the same basic phrase, but with different ornamentation each time it is played, creates a unique way of expression through instrumental music. Although the basic idea of each line is the same, the different additions that the player adds to each line, in the form of bends, trills, or elaborating with more notes, gives the line a different concept each time that it is played. It is also important to note that the lines become a little more elaborate each time, and a little more easily distinguished from the other lines before it, until is basically becomes unrecognizable from the simpler melody at the beginning of the piece.
CYCLICAL FORMS
A cyclical form is a form based on the continuous repetition of patterns, or motives. While the work begins and ends, neither the beginning nor the ending really sounds different than any other part of the piece, except that sometimes the beginning starts with one layer, then another, then another, each with its own pattern, until all of the layers are playing patterns continually. Throughout cyclical pieces, we hear small variations of change, not large contrasting sections or tunes. In each layers, some individual patterns may vary or change while the other patterns in the other layers stay the same; patterns leaving and returning in layers provide subtle changes and variety.
This example, a song from Ghana (a country in Africa) called “Kpatsa Toke” is made up of many different small patterns in an steady stream of cyclical repetition. It has many layers playing simultaneously that continue throughout over and over again.
Once the voices come in this, the small, subtle changes are easiest to hear in this vocal layer. The solo and the chorus alternate in call and response on the main melody twice at one pitch level, then at a lower level several times. The call is similar each time, but not an exact repetition. After a pause in the voices where we just hear the drum, we hear the same thing, but this time, many of the bells are replaced by the drums, so we hear the same patterns in different instruments. After another pause, we hear the voices start again singing the same tunes with some ornamental variations. A little more than halfway through, supported by the same patterns in the percussion, the singers start on a new tune, but still in a short call-and-response set up. At the end, rather than a big finish they simply slow down the last time they sing that second melody. They could have ended at anytime throughout this song in the same manner: there is no set beginning or ending.
Here is a longer description of the West African song “Ake.” This description presents a helpful model for describing a form that is based on cyclical repetition rather than on linear contrasts and returns.
This song is comprised of many different, very small motives that repeat over and over again throughout the song. The excerpt has three main sections and the beginning of a fourth; together the repetitve motifs and the repetitive sections demonstrate the cyclical movement of the piece. The song moves between percussion-focused sections and a vocal-focused section. For a few moments in the beginning, there are three different percussion instruments that each begin a simple motif, only a measure long, that then continues in those instruments throughout the entire piece. Next, two more percussion instruments are added, with a more hollow sound, that begin to play the rhythmic motif that the melody will mimic in the next section, when the voices enter. The motif is syncopated, like most of the other motifs that occur throughout the excerpt.
In the next section, there are two different vocal layers that enter and create a call and response effect. The first layer of the vocals is a single male vocalist, and the motif that he repeats is a somewhat disjunct melody that jumps up to a the highest note in the phrase before contouring down to the end of the phrase. The response section has their own separate, distinct motif, which moves in a generally straight contour but moves down slightly throughout their phrase. Both of the vocal lines also repeat the same words each time they enter the piece, and all of the percussive motifs from the previous section are continuing throughout. The vocal motifs do change slightly halfway through the first vocal section; the last few notes of the leader’s vocal part are omitted, though the same words are used for the first part of his phrase, and the last note of each measure is replaced with the chorus repeating the word ‘ake’, creating a call and response effect between the leader and the mixed voices. Near the end of the section the leader’s words do change slightly, but the melodic motif that he is using does not, nor do the motives the chorus is using.
In the third section, the focus switches once again to the percussion, but one of the drums is repeatedly playing a motif both rhythmically and melodically identical to the motif that the lead voice used in the previous section. This section also includes the mixed voices repeating the word “ake,” on the fourth beat of each measure, as in the second half of the previous section. Again, the percussion motives that began in the beginning of the song and throughout the first section are still present, the overlapping of each layer creating a constant effect of syncopation. At the end of the excerpt, we hear the lead vocalist return, completing the cycle of the sections, with the same motif that he had used previously.
ELEMENTS OF MUSIC 