Form and Structure

Year 7
 What is structure?
• If a piece of music repeated the same thing
over and over again it would get boring!
• Music that is always changing, however, would
be very hard to listen to.
• Music is therefore composed within a form or
structure. This makes it easier for the
composer to use both repetition and change.
• Complete Task 1 in your booklets.
Mannish Boy by Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield
b. 1913 – d.1983
American Blues musician
Instruments:
Vocals
Guitar
Harmonica (mouth organ)

Form or Structure
Question and Answer
 Question and answer
• Sometimes a good way of structuring your
music is to compose a musical conversation.
• This device is called Question and Answer.
• Q: How are you today?
A: I am well, thank you.
• We use information from the question to help
us to give our answer.
 Compose a Question and Answer
• You will be put into pairs to compose a
musical conversation made up of 3 question
and answers.
• You can use spoken phrases to help you to do
this but it must be performed on percussion
instruments.
• Good answers contain elements of the
question but are not exactly the same.
 Evaluate your work
Answer the questions in as much detail as
possible. Use full sentences and pay careful
attention to spelling and punctuation.
• How did you compose your piece?
• Was it easier to compose the question or the
answer?
• What have you learnt about composing and
performing question and answer phrases?
 Binary Form
• Music in binary form is made up of 2 sections.
• These 2 sections must be different.
• The first section is called A and the second
section is called B.
• This is one of the simplest musical structures.

A–B
 Binary Form
• It is very important that music in section B is
different to that in section A.
• We can describe this as contrast in music.
• By changing the elements of music, we can
make the music in section B contrast to that in
section A.
 Composing Section B
• Draw a Treble Clef on a stave in your exercise book.
• Divide the stave into 4 equal bars.
• Using the notes from Section A (C – G) compose
Section B.
• Keep it simple:
• it only has to be four bars long (4 beats in each bar);
• you can use ideas from Section A;
• try to think how you can make the two sections
contrast.
 Ternary Form
• Ternary form is a musical structure consisting
of three parts. The first and third parts are
normally identical (or very similar), and the
middle section is different.
A–B-A
• For this reason, we can think of ternary form
as represented by the letters ABA (a musical
sandwich).
 My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
We are going to sing a traditional Scottish folk
song called My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean.
We are going to be looking at the terms:
– Phrase: a group of notes that sound like they fit
together (like a sentence)
– Melody Contour: the shape of the tune (is it
smooth or angular)
– Range: the distance (in pitch) between the lowest
and highest notes
 Rondo Form
• A piece of music in rondo form begins with a
lively tune which keeps on returning.
• In between this lively tune, there are different
sections of music.
• We can describe rondo form as:
ABACADA
The sections between the repeats of A are called
episodes.
 Steel Pans
• You are going to perform a piece of music in
Rondo Form on the steel pans.
• You must remember to :
· Remember your own part
· Pay attention to the other parts
· Keep a steady pulse
· Remember what you are trying to achieve