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music boffins, help please









Marc

New member
Jul 6, 2003
25,267
aaahhh sonnet rings a bell, looking up in the dictionary now...


son·net
1 - A 14-line verse form usually having one of several conventional rhyme schemes.
2 - A poem in this form.


hmm maybe not quite, cantata:

can·ta·ta
1 - A musical composition, often using a sacred text, comprising recitatives, arias, and choruses.

nope not that either
 










Man of Harveys

Well-known member
Jul 9, 2003
18,801
Brighton, UK
I think it is strophic. But according to this link (which is very good)

http://www.towson.edu/~rmccread/form.htm

that term apparently only strictly applies if there isn't an instrumental section which distracts from the supposedly-intense lyric, like in folk. Also, rhapsodic songs - meandering pieces, basically also don't have the normal verse/chorus stuff going on.
 


Marc

New member
Jul 6, 2003
25,267
yeah strophic could well be it after reading abit more, thanks all :)
 




Barnet Seagull

Luxury Player
Jul 14, 2003
5,970
Falmer, soon...
The first of the three major commercial song forms is commonly called the AAA Song Form and is the simplest and earliest of the three. Remember: When we refer to any song form, "A" always stands for a verse. So, the AAA Song Form is simply a series of verses linked together. Each verse is complete in itself, but is part of a larger whole -- very much like links in a chain. The AAA Song can also be called the "one-part song" which means that it has only one section that repeats musically, but differs lyrically in each verse. The technical name for this song form is the -- strophic song form -- the Greek word, strophe, simply meaning "verse."

The beginnings of the AAA Song go back several centuries to early court composers and musicians who set poems to music for performance at royal functions. Because the song form was so simple and repetitive, it also became part of early children's rhymes and songs. Any child who has learned and sung, Mary Had a Little Lamb, has learned the AAA Song Form -- whether he/she realizes it or not! And, of course, Girl and Boy Scout camps would be literally handicapped without the AAA song form that has produced such campfire hits as Kum Bay Ya and Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall.

As the last title demonstrates, it makes no difference how many verses the AAA Song may contain or how long each verse may be -- it will never have chorus or a bridge. But one thing it will have is a hook and that hook (which is usually also the title) will almost always appear at the same strategic, parallel place in each A section -- often in the first or last line of the verse.

The AAA Song is the essence of simplicity and memorability. Because of this, it had a phenomenal resurgence during the 1960's and 70's as folk singers like Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Pete Seeger, Joni Mitchell and others used it to create songs that made an indelible imprint on American Music. Consider the immortal Dylan classic, Blowin' in the Wind. Each "A" section or verse begins with a series of questions answered by the hook which -- in this song -- concludes the verse and is part of the refrain. You will remember that the refrain occurs in the same place in every verse of this song and is definitely the most memorable part.

The AAA song is also an ideal song form for telling a story. Consider the genius, 1970's Jim Webb hit, By the Time I Get to Phoenix, which uses the AAA Song Form to tell a "split-screen" story of a man leaving his girlfriend. He starts out from California and as the song progresses, each verse finds him in a different city further west while the girlfriend goes about her daily routine and begins to realize, little by little, that this time the guy really meant it and is definitely gone! By the Time I Get to Phoenix uses the AAA Song at its best and fullest potential, and the hit that resulted for Jim Webb and Glen Campbell proves again that simplicity can be extremely effective if it is "elegant simplicity!"
 


Man of Harveys

Well-known member
Jul 9, 2003
18,801
Brighton, UK
Barnet Seagull said:
By the Time I Get to Phoenix uses the AAA Song at its best and fullest potential, and the hit that resulted for Jim Webb and Glen Campbell proves again that simplicity can be extremely effective if it is "elegant simplicity!"

Wise words indeed Barntit. BTTIGTP, Galveston and Wichita Lineman - Jimmy Webb and Glen Campbell's tryptych.
 


Sigull

'Arte et Marte'
Jul 16, 2003
363
Bracklesham Bay
Madrigal.....Part-song for several voices with elaborate contrapuntal imitation & without instrumental accompaniment....no chorus there then !!:clap:
 




Vinyl Richie

New member
Jul 30, 2003
2,199
Polling North Standers
CrabtreeBHA said:
Safeway thats a bloody good point, sorry I will make it up in the wank bank later.

idle promise?
 


Marc

New member
Jul 6, 2003
25,267
Sigull, hmm but what about songs with abit of instrumental sections?

Vinyl...PC at home was buggered so could'nt even LOOK for the pictures :nono: working on it though
 








Marc

New member
Jul 6, 2003
25,267
Strophic form is a way of structuring a piece of music The sounds people accept as music vary according to historical era, location, and cultural and individual taste. The actual definition of music is hotly contested; one definition of music may include only those sounds which are considered "pleasant" by the definer, while another may include any sound produced intentionally by an individual or a group. Other definitions may focus on defining music as a physical phenomenon (in terms of sound), as a psychological phenomenon, or as a social phenomenon. Some people have even disputed that there is any such thing as music at all! Thus music must contain physical, psychological, and social phenomena, including theory, performance practice, dance, and poetry.


way over my head that stuff :D
 




Marc

New member
Jul 6, 2003
25,267
Barnet Seagull said:
It's widely known as AAA form.

leave it at that eh?

so its like a small battery then...eh?

bah I give up, I'll just have to call it "song without a chorus, innit!" :D
 








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