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What is structure?

A cartoon of Elvis Presley singing and holding a microphone and is pointing to the left.

Most music is made up of different sections. Individual sections can be identified by of the music such as their , and even .

Structure is the order that different sections of a song or piece of music are played in.

Certain structures were used in different musical periods. Certain styles of music can follow a particular structure too.

Structure is important because it gives shape and balance to the music.

A cartoon of Elvis Presley singing and holding a microphone and is pointing to the left.
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What is ternary form?

Composer Johann Sebastian Bach

Ternary form means music that is made up of three sections. It's sometimes called song form.

Musicians and composers started using it over 300 years ago, particularly in dances during the .

A simple ternary form will have:

  1. a section A
  2. followed by a new section B
  3. then back to section A again
Composer Johann Sebastian Bach
Asha pointing at the letters a-b-a representing ternary form.
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Watch: Explore ternary form

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What is rondo form?

A cartoon of Beethoven

Rondo form is another musical form.

Like above, we can use letters to describe the different sections of a piece of music in rondo form.

Rondo form can have different designs but will always repeat the main section (A).

A common rondo form:

  1. begins with a section A
  2. followed by a new section B
  3. back to section A
  4. then a new section C
  5. back to A again and so on
A cartoon of Beethoven
Ruby from Lightning Jelly pointing to the letters A-B-A-C-A to represent rondo form.
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Rondo form was particularly used by musicians in the in pieces of music like a or .

One of the most famous uses of ABACA rondo form is by Beethoven in 'Fur Elise'.

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Watch: Explore rondo form

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How to identify the structure

A cartoon of the composer Bach.

To work out the structure of a piece of music you need to identify the different sections.

To do this, you can:

  • Look for sections that are repeated and you are able to work out a pattern (like in ternary or rondo form).
  • Identify sections because they have the same or a different melody.
  • Listen for words that are repeated such as the chorus in a song.
  • Identify sections that have the same sequence of chords.
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Activities

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