song forms

song forms

Below is a “mini lesson” on popular song forms that you’ll need to study for Assignment #4, Manha De Carnival. As with the previous assignment, this assignment is worth 4 points and will require some very careful listening and analysis on your part. This information is not in the regular lessons so please study it carefully. Also, don’t forget to include a detailed timeline of the form with timings and labels in a single vertical column, similar to what you did in Assignment #1.

JAZZ/POP SONG FORMS

The classic jazz/pop song form is a 32-bar AABA form with each section lasting 8 bars. Sometimes, however, this form is modified to include other variations such as ABA’B’ and AABB forms. Some composers will even throw in a two or four-bar extension just to break up the regularity of the phrase structure.

Most standard jazz songs begin with an Introduction followed by a 32-bar Main Theme or Head. After that, it is customary for the various solo players to take turns improvising solos using the harmonic background (chord changes) of the original 32-bar section. In other words, you won’t necessarily hear the original melody during these solos, but the original harmonies will be played by the accompaniment in the background. Finally, there might be Coda or closing section to the song and/or a return to the original “tune” or “head” of the song played by the entire ensemble.

Manha de Carnival MAY or MAY NOT include all or some of the formal aspects described above. As you draft your analysis please be sure that it includes the corresponding counter numbers in a vertical column and that your analysis gives the overall ‘snapshot’ of the song’s form just as you did in Assignment #1. This is a difficult assignment and will require that you listen carefully to the entire song and its various subsections many times.

Finally, this song should grow on you the more you listen to it. Just in case you’re interested Manha De Carnival is the Theme Song from the 1959 movie, Black Orpheus.

 

Analysis Assignment: Putting Things Together

The principles of Unity and Variety apply to all music, regardless of composition style or historical period.

Now that you are familiar with the concepts in the first section of the course (Basic Musical Concepts), and you have seen how they work on different pieces of music, try your hand, mouse, and ears, at finding how they operate in a piece you haven’t heard yet in this course (although you may have elsewhere).

To do this, I will ask you to look at Manha De Carnival by Sigman and Bonfa, arguably one of the most popular Brazilian pieces in the repertoire.
analysis should include:
•The number of different musical ideas in the piece (can we say, for example, that there are two ideas A, and B? Or is there only one?)
•The timings (start and stop times) of the different sections of the piece. (Hint: Listen for changes in musical ideas and timbre , e.g. points where different instruments come in or give way to others)
•How unity and variety are exemplified in those sections through the use of:
1.Dynamics
2.Timbre
3.Pitch
•Whether, although there are sections that feature one instrument over others , you think this is this is a piece for solo performer or for an ensemble.
•A list of the characteristics of the musical style closest to the one this piece exemplifies. (Hint: look at the last lecture in the first section of the course)
•Whether you think this piece serves, or could serve a specific purpose.
•Whether or not it has any specific connotation/s for you.

 

 

 

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