(part 13 of 20)
More on Baroque Dances, Simple Forms, & Repetition
Compose using simple AB forms with repeating sections, like: AAB, ABB, and AABB. Also try other simple forms such as: ABA, ABBA, ABAB, and even just A. These various forms can be written using simple repeats, or ‘D.C. al Fine’ (in the case of ABA and ABBA). As mentioned before, baroque dances are great models–minuets, gavottes, sarabandes, musettes, etc.–with a single melodic line, bassline, and simple structure.
It’s important to think about why a certain piece might work best with AABB form, as opposed to ABA form, or something else. Ask questions like: Does it sound more final to end with section A or section B? Do I want the end to sound more final, or more open-ended? Is the overall composition enhanced if we hear section A just once, or twice? What about section B? Do we need a break from section A before we hear it again? Some sections might be more simplistic and repetitive on their own, lessening the need to repeat them right away.
Each section is made up of smaller elements. For example, a short ‘A’ section might consist of a four measure melody followed by the same melody altered slightly. However, there are plenty of pieces with less repetition within a section–such as an ever-changing eight-measure melody. Anything goes. Sticking to four plus four measures, or eight plus eight measures for each section, is certainly not mandatory. And if the ‘A’ section ends up with a total of seven or nine measures it might be just right. Composers should always follow their ear!
Repetition is fundamental to music. It helps listeners remember important ideas, helps new sections sound familiar, helps retain attention, and basically serves as the glue which binds everything together. Musical form is mostly about repetition: where it occurs, how ideas are repeated (and how they’re altered), and when something isn’t repeated (when new material is presented). Musical ideas can be repeated verbatim, or shifted up or down in pitch, repeated more slowly, more quickly, with different rhythm, with the same rhythm but different pitches, in a different tonality, with a variety of variations, just a fragment of an idea can be repeated; or an idea can be stretched out with new material at the beginning, end, or mixed throughout–growing into something new; a melody can be repeated as a bassline, condensed down to a series of chords, and on, and on.
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Index
- Introduction
- Why Piano?
- Improvisation:
- Notation:
- Related Skills/Knowledge:
- Composition: