Area of Study 1: Musical Forms and Devices

The shapes music is built in

A piece of music is not just one idea after another. It has a form, an overall plan of sections, and it is shaped by devices, the techniques a composer uses to develop the material. The common forms are easy to hear once you know them. Binary form has two sections, AB. Ternary form has three, ABA, so the opening returns after a contrasting middle. Rondo form brings a main theme back again and again between new episodes, ABACA. There is also theme and variations, and the minuet and trio, which is a ternary dance. The devices work inside these forms: a sequence repeats an idea higher or lower, an ostinato is a repeated pattern, imitation is one part copying another, and a pedal is a held note under changing harmony. This module teaches the forms and devices and the styles of the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods, all describable in words.

Words for form and device

Learn what each of these means before you use it.

Binary against ternary

The two simplest forms are close cousins, and telling them apart is about whether the opening comes back.

How to work out a form

You can name a form without naming the piece, by tracking the sections. Listen or read for where a clear new idea begins and label it with a letter, reusing the same letter whenever an earlier idea comes back. Two different sections give you binary. An idea, a contrast, then the first idea again gives you ternary. A main idea that keeps returning between new ones gives you rondo. Then look inside the sections for devices: is a phrase repeated higher, is a pattern looping, is one part copying another. A weak answer just says the music repeats. A strong answer labels the sections, names the form, and names a device at work. Track the sections, name the form, spot the device.

Match the device to its meaning

Which form?

A short piece plays a tune, then a clearly contrasting middle section, and then the opening tune returns unchanged. Which form is this?

• ternary form
• binary form
• rondo form
• theme and variations

Order the rondo

A piece in rondo form is played. Put the sections in the order they are heard.

• The main theme is played
• A first contrasting episode follows
• The main theme returns
• A second, different episode follows
• The main theme returns once more

Spot the true music facts

Tap the TWO statements that are true.

• Ternary form follows the pattern ABA, with the opening returning
• An ostinato is a repeated musical pattern
• Binary form has three sections that all repeat the opening
• A sequence means playing the same idea at exactly the same pitch each time

Count the rondo theme

A rondo has the section pattern ABACA, where A is the main theme. Count how many times the main theme A is heard in that pattern.

Complete the music facts

A form in two sections, AB, is called _____ form. A form in three sections where the opening returns, ABA, is called _____ form. A form in which a main theme keeps returning between contrasting episodes is called _____ form. A device in which a melodic idea is repeated at a higher or lower pitch is called a _____.

Naming a form by ear

Imagine a short movement from an old dance suite, the kind of public-domain piece that turns up in every music classroom. It opens with a bright, memorable tune that comes to a clear close. Then a new section arrives, in a different key and mood, giving contrast. Just when you have settled into that, the bright opening tune comes back, note for note, and rounds the piece off. You do not need to know its title to describe it: label the opening the first section, the contrast the second, and the return the same as the first, and the shape names itself. Underneath, notice the left hand holding one low note while the harmony above it changes, a small device adding tension before the tune returns. Naming the shape and one device is exactly what the exam rewards, and neither needs the piece to be named.

Build the form rule

Choose the words that complete the rule about ternary form.

Name that music

Read each case and choose the best answer, then think about why.

• A piece states a tune, then plays it again decorated, then again in a minor key, then again faster, always the same underlying tune. Which form is this?
• In a piece, the flute plays a short phrase and the oboe immediately plays the very same phrase straight after. Which device is this?
• You must place three styles in time order for an exam answer. Which order is correct?

Forms and devices

Select the TWO statements that are true.

• In rondo form the main theme returns several times between episodes
• Imitation is one part copying a melodic idea just played by another
• In binary form the opening always returns to end the piece
• A pedal is a fast run of many different notes

Explain musical form

A friend is revising Music and cannot tell the forms apart or name any devices. Explain how musical forms and devices work, using the ideas from this module.

• Explain what is meant by musical form and by a musical device
• Explain the difference between binary and ternary form, using the section letters
• Explain what rondo form is and how you would recognise it
• Explain two devices, such as a sequence and an ostinato
• Finish by explaining how you can name a form and a device without knowing the name of the piece