Music Theory/Form

Musical Form If we label our musical materials, ideas, or sections with the letters of the alphabet we can show how musical forms are created.

Any single section of music, consisting of phrases or other musical sections, we can call A. This musical section can be repeated to create an AA form.

If we instead chose to add a new section, B, we would have the musical form AB. This would be two contrasting musical sections.

If we chose to add another A to an AB form, but this time with variation we would have the form ABA'. (The ' is used to indicate variation).

With the processes of repetition, contrast and variation there can be many musical forms.

Common Musical Forms:

Strophic - AAA, etc. Binary - AB Ternary - ABA Rondo - ABACA, or ABACADA Arch - ABCBA Sonata Form - Exposition: (Theme Group 1 - Theme Group 2) --- Development --- Recapitulation: (Theme Group 1 - Theme Group 2) Sonata Rondo - ABA - C - ABA Binary Form

Binary Form describes the structure of a piece of music which is divided into 2 different sections. The 2 sections are usually labelled A and B.

Simple Binary Form

The key concept to grasp is that there is some sort of contrast between the A section and the B section. This contrast is usually (though not always) created by a key change. There are 2 main types of Binary Form you will come across.

Simple Binary Form

Simple Binary Form refers to the basic Binary Form structure outlined above. There is an A section followed by a B section in a different key (both sections are usually repeated). It usually follows the pattern of key changes outlined below:

Binary Form Key changes

Examples of Simple Binary Form – A large number of Baroque dances typically had a Binary Form structure. Examples include the sarabande, allemande, gigue, minuet, bouree and the courante. Have a look/listen to his example:

Handel gavotte binary form

Play Handel Binary Form Example Rounded Binary Form

Rounded Binary Form is very similar to simple Binary Form except for the fact that Section B is often longer than section A and part of section A is repeated again at the end of section B.

Rounded Binary Form

Rounded Binary Form was very common in the Classical period of music. It was often used as the structure for the theme in a set of theme and variations. Here is an example from Mozart’s Piano Sonata in D major K284 3rd movement:

Mozart rounded binary form

Play Mozart Rounded Binary Form Example Composing using Binary Form

Binary Form is a fantastic structure to use if you are composing because it immediately brings a sense of contrast to the piece you are writing. It is also great because it is a foundation upon which you can build. If you write a piece of music in binary form and want to keep going you can easily extend it into Ternary Form (by repeating the A section to form A-B-A) or create a Rondo (by adding more sections to create A-B-A-C-A-D-A).