Before we talk about musical form, we have to talk about symmetry. If we were to describe symmetry in one word, we would probably pick balance. Our bodies, for example, have symmetry. We have two eyes, both of which are spread evenly away from the center line of our head, where our nose is located. Everything that we have two of is positioned an equal distance from the centerline of our body. In nature, symmetry is all over.

Have you ever watched a movie that seemed like it suddenly ended? The action was just starting to ramp up but then suddenly the resolution and then the credit. This is a symmetry problem and low budget movies are plagued with them because symmetry in art is very difficult to master.

In music, anybody who writes music of any genre has to understand symmetry. Anybody who has gone to an orchestra concert and heard a Haydn symphony may have come away wondering why it was so long and why the same music repeated so many times. One contributing factor to the length of any symphony is the symmetry and symmetry is accomplished by applying a specific musical form.

Although all composers have a different methodology for planning out a piece of music, most will write a main theme, a series of secondary motives, and other notable musical moments. Next, they lay out how those will be arranged.

They might say that there will be some introductory material, then the main theme, then transitional or development material, then the first secondary theme, etc. This is the act of laying out the form of the piece and in order for a piece to sound right, an equal amount of main and accompanying themes has to be achieved. Some pieces of music use specific, more formal musical forms.

Some of these forms include the rondo, sonata, strophic, Ternary, and Binary. Each of these forms have a specific order of events that must take place in order for that particular form to be used but how do they work?

Let’s look at the rondo form. The Rondo form has the form ABACADA. This may seem like some strange code but let’s look at it. Each of these letters is an identification device for different sections of a piece of music. First, the “A” theme is the main theme of the piece. If you were to walk away whistling anything in this piece of music, it will probably be the “A” theme. It’s the motive that this whole piece is constructed around.

Next, the “B” theme is going to be another theme that sounds different from the “A” theme but is based on the “A” theme somehow. (You may not notice it but if you look hard enough, you’ll see it.) Next, we return to the “A” theme and restate it just as it was when we heard it the first time. Then we go to the “C” theme. This is another theme that sounds totally different but is based on the “A” theme somehow.
This pattern can repeat for as many different themes as the composer would like but in order for it to be a piece of music in rondo form, it must always return to the “A” theme before going to another theme.
This is only one example of the many musical forms available.

Many popular songs have musical forms such as ABA, ABCA, ABAB, and so on. Many of the older hymns use the form AB, which of course means verse-chorus, and that can repeat for several times and usually does.

Next time you listen to a piece of music see if you can map out the form of it and see how symmetry is used to make a piece of music flow correctly.

And by the way, the secret to memorizing music is to figure out the form of that particular piece or song. For a course in memorizing music, please click on How To Memorize Music Quickly

Music has a beginning, middle and end. Today, we’re going to focus on the end and it’s the end that average listeners react most to. In music, the end of a piece, a movement, or even a phrase is called a cadence. The cadence not only ends a section of music but it also tells the listener where it is going next.

There are four main types of cadences and each of these serve a different purpose. Let’s look at the four and how they work. Keep in mind that these cadences are often used in what we would call traditional music. Modern music, called art-music by some, doesn’t necessarily use these types of devices.

Authentic Cadence

Have you ever heard a piece of music get to what feels like a cliffhanger as if it’s about to come to a big triumphant ending? You wait and wait and then it happens! You breathe a big sigh of relief. This is called the authentic cadence and most traditional music has at least one of these somewhere. An authentic cadence is when the music gets to a V chord and resolves to a I chord. (See our article about roman numerals by clicking here if you don’t remember how they work.)
Let’s say that we’re in the key of C Major. An authentic cadence would get to a V or G Major Chord (G-B-D) and then resolve to a I chord or C Major Chord. (C-E-G)

Plagal Cadence

The Plagal Cadence is often called the Amen cadence because it’s heard in churches around the world as well as in traditional music. If you’ve ever went to a church where hymns are sung you’ve probably heard the hymn end and then sing “A-men” as something that sounds like an add-on to the hymn. This is a Plagal Cadence.
This is another cadence that signals the end of a piece of music or just a phrase. You will also hear it used in secular music in a way similar to the authentic cadence.

Half Cadence

A half cadence has to end on the V chord and that’s about the only rule. Remember how we said that when you get to the V chord in the Authentic Cadence, it feels a little bit like a cliff hanger? Something else is coming? That’s exactly what the half cadence signals. Something more is on the way. It doesn’t end the piece. The half cadence is used frequently in all types of traditional music. Listen to a song on the radio and you’ll hear the piece get to a certain point and then go somewhere else. A half cadence was at work.

Deceptive Cadence

A half cadence is much like the half cadence except composers often use it to extend a phrase sometimes for dramatic effect. A half cadence most often uses the V to vi progression to accomplish this. It is often used in conjunction with other cadences. Not too far away from a deceptive is normally an authentic cadence.
There you have it. Now you know how to end a piece of music. Try these in a variety of keys. In actuality, you may already be playing these chords as an exercise you do with your scales. Most piano players practices cadences regularly.

Quite often we don’t take the time to analyze the music we play, but if we did we would often find it much easier to understand than we would otherwise think in terms of chord progressions and musical form. Take a familiar tune such as Greensleeves and break it down to its basic components and we find a simple chord progression that repeats in four measure increments, then a contrasting section of four measures, followed by 4 measures that kind of combines the first section with the release - a very logical musical form. Watch this short piano lesson video then apply it to other songs!

Musical form is simply how the musical composition is structured. As you can visually identify the structure of a building - for example the walls, the roof, the windows and so on - so you can also identify the different component themes that make up a piece of music. Think about any song you know, you will probably be able to quickly identify at least 2 themes, the verse and the chorus. In the music for the song the musical theme for the verse will differ from the chorus and the pattern is often repeated a number of times throughout the song.
In musical theory the different parts or themes are given a letter to identify them. To take the simple example of a song comprising a verse and chorus again, the verse could be identified as A, and the chorus B. When playing the music to this song the musical form, the structure, could be A, A, B, A, B, A, B, B - which means you would play the music to the verse, and then repeat this, followed by the music for the chorus, another verse, chorus, verse, chorus and finally a repeat of the chorus.
There are subtle variations that can be used such as if the music for subsequent verses are played with slight variations from the first time it’s played within the song, then these would be identified by the same letter plus an apostrophe symbol which represents the word “prime” - for example A’ means A prime. Should the final verse be slightly different from both the beginning and middle verses, then this part would be called A double prime and notated as A”. All theme variations in the music can be notated in this way so you could have an overall simple musical form of A, A, B, A’, B, A”, B, B’.
In classical music, especially if orchestrated, it is often more difficult to hear where a section ends and a new section occurs. If the sections appears unbroken then it could be a simple A all the way through. If there is a section where the rhythm changes, then you could be listening to an A/B section, whereas if the key, rhythm and tune seems completely different to the A section then it will most definitely be a B section. Should the composition then return to the first theme again, then you return to all and the musical form of the piece of music will be ABA. In some music, such as jazz, the B section can also be a bridge between chord progressions so although often sections are of similar lengths, the new section doesn’t always mean a long segment of music equal to that in another section.
As a pianist you should learn about musical form so that you can train your eyes and ears to pick out the musical references within a piece of music. Many themes are only 8 bars long, and this is repeated either as it is, or with a prime or double prime throughout most of the music. If your piece of classical music is 20 pages long, it seems like a lot of work to learn. But look closely at the manuscript, or listen closely to the music as it’s played. How many themes are there? 1, 2 maybe 3 - that’s only 3 lots of 8 bars you have to learn - doesn’t that seem more manageable than 20 pages? Of course some of the themes may be prime or double prime versions, but the basic theme will remain the same throughout all 20 pages. Identify and master that theme and you’ll soon be on your way to a great performance!
(Note: This is a guest article by Katie-Anne from Elance)