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DIVING DEEPER INTO COMPOSITION

(part 13 of 20)

More on Baroque Dances, Simple Forms, & Repetition

In addition to composing simple AB forms (and repeating sections: 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.

You can also think of each section as being made up of smaller elements. For example, an ‘A’ section might consist of a 4 measure melody followed by the same melody slightly altered. However you can find plenty of pieces where there’s less repetition within a section, for example a continuous 8-measure-melody. Anything goes. So don’t feel you must stick to 4 + 4 bars for each section. And if your ‘A’ section ends up with a total of 7 or 9 measures it might be just right. Always follow your 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 primarily concerned with repetition, where it occurs, how ideas are repeated, and when something isn’t repeated (when new material is presented). Musical ideas can be repeated verbatim, or shifted up or down in pitch, or repeated slowly, or more quickly, or with different rhythm, or with the same rhythm but different pitch, or in a different tonality, or with variations, or 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, or a melody can be repeated as a bassline, or condensed down to a series of chords, and on, and on.

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