Appendix VI:

Form

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 tune, 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 called “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 Dalal 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 Ravi Shankar’s performance of  Raga Mishra Mand, a North Indian instrumental piece based on improvisation of an Indian Scale, or rag.   Notice 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.

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 set of ornamentations the performer will use to elaborate on that melodic line. Sometimes they will be note ornamentation: he will play certain pitches while adding notes in between the basic melodic lines, or elaborate on a specific pitch, devoting more time to it than  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.

A MOTIVE is a musical pattern.  A motive can be melodic, rhythmic, or both.

Frequently rhythms fall into patterns that repeat frequently throughout the piece. We call these patterns RHYTHMIC MOTIVES.   This Taiko piece from Japan has several motives – patterns – that repeat frequently throughout.   In this section of it, the drums repeat an extended motive of  short-long, short-long, short-long, short-short-short-long (ba-DUM, ba-DUM, ba-DUM, ba-dum-bum) that then morphs into short-short-long instead of short long (ba-ba-bum).  By the end of if we have heard the really short motive of ‘ba-DUM’  a lot.

Melodic Motives are small bits of tunes that are repeated multiple times to produce full melodies.   For more on Melodic Motives use this link to visit the discussion in Appendix I: Melody

While Cyclical works begin and end, 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, the Kpanda Dance of the Baule people from the Republic of Ivory Coast. 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.  The bell, sticks (softly) and drum enter first. Then two singers begin and are answered by a group. Through the course of the song, the bell that entered first always plays the same pattern (a five note pattern with a short pause between notes 3 and 4 and a longer pause between notes 5 and the repetition of the pattern staring on 1: 1 2 3..4 5 …..1 2 3.. 4 5). The response that the group sings is always the same: a melody made up of only two alternating pitches with a pause after the first three notes. While the stick and the drum parts are harder to hear because they are in the middle of the texture and are more complicated, they too, consist of repeated patterns. Only the call seems to vary.

While cyclical structures involve  lot or repetition,  many things can change during the course of the song, as described  here:

This is “Kelefa Ba” performed by the griot family of Malamini Jobarteh.  Each chorus has a different set of words. The main story is sung improvisationally in the Mandinka language by Malamini who tries to explain the story and the culture behind being a griot in English after each chorus.   After rthe Introduction with kora and djembe, at 0:32 the kora player sings the main melody of the song which descends. Notice the call and response between his voice and the kora. The kora and djembe play a short, repeated rhythmic pattern throughout under the different singers, melodies, and texts.  At 0:44 the vocalist joins and sings the same melody and is joined by the kora player. This main melody returns throughout sung by the group and each syllable of text has one note.  The singer then begins improvising melodically to tell the story of Kelefa. There are more words than notes in the melody so the notes repeat in a recitation-like style.

The kora punctuates the vocal statement with a flourish.  At 1:27 multiple musicians enter to sing the main melody with the text “Suelbe Dona.”  Then, the vocalists breaks off the singing to offer some explanations in English. 1:36 The vocalist begins speaking in English.  

A female griot enters with bell part at 2:10, and at 2:28 musicians enter with the main melody on the the text “Minda Lo Banda.” The vocalist enters again to offer additional explanation, and at 3:08 musicians sing the main melody on the text “Minda Lo Banda.”  3:19 The main vocalist begins to improvise at 3:19, with other musicians entering on the  main melody with the text “Kem fati”  At 4:00 the vocalist explains in English again, with the musicians entering on the main tune with the text “Kem fati.”

At 5:00 the vocalist improvises the music for the story again. The kora and drums add flourishes to vary the patterns, after which they begin to play parts of the main melody.  After another English explanation the Kora  improvises a solo  At 8:40 the vocalist sings a new melody that descends melodically.  At 9:10 the kora and the djembe continue playing and pieces of the chorus can be heard in the kora’s melody as the song ends.