Musical Form Study Guide

Study Guide for Musical Form
A Complete Outline of Standardized Formal Categories and Concepts
Robert T. Kelley
February 2001

Note: This is not a tutorial, and cannot serve to replace classroom instruction in form and analysis. It is intended to function as a study resource for students preparing for an exam or for anyone needing to review their terminology and analytical tools. Although formal concepts are discussed in some detail, the text provides no musical examples of any forms or concepts except by reference. For specific analyses from musical literature of any formal consideration introduced here, see any of the books listed in the bibliography given below.

Introduction
1. The Analytical Problem
2. The Reasons for Division and Categorization
Basic Structural Units
1. Single Musical Events
  1. pitches
  2. rhythms
  3. gestures
  4. motives
2. The Phrase
  1. melodic/vocal
  2. structural/cadential
  3. introduction
  4. interpolation
  5. extension
  6. phrase construction from repetition and contrast
  7. the sentence
3. The Period
  1. antecedent and consequent
  2. symmetrical and asymmetrical
  3. parallel and contrasting
  4. HC AC type and IAC PAC type (and other possibilities)
  5. non-modulating and modulating
  6. three-phrase periods
  7. the double period
  8. the repeated period
4. The Phrase Group
  1. modulatory/transitional phrase structures
  2. the section (extended passage with no cadential divisions)
Structural Functions (from Spencer/Temko)
1. Expository(/Recapitulatory)
2. Transitional(/Modulatory)
3. Developmental(/Variational)
4. Terminative(/Cadential)
Larger Structural Units (The concept of closure)
1. Closed Section
  1. Completed Harmonic Motion in One Key
  2. Non-Modulating Periodic Structure
2. Open Section
  1. Modulatory Periodic Structure
  2. Phrase Groups and Extended Phrases
Binary Forms (Large-scale antecedent-consequent functions)
1. Simple (Periodic or Cadential Division only)
  1. Sectional
  2. Continuous
2. Balanced (Periodic or Cadential Division with Cadence Rhyme)
  1. Sectional (rare)
  2. Continuous
3. Rounded (Periodic or Cadential Division with Clear Return of Opening Material in the tonic)
  1. Sectional
  2. Continuous
4. Sonata (Clear Return of Opening Material and Advanced Cadence Rhyme)
  1. Expository Sections with Two or More Themes and Modulation
  2. The Concept of Development as Larger Formal Division
  3. The Sonatina
  4. Concerted Sonata Form
Ternary Forms
1. Simple Ternary Structure
  1. Three closed sections, no development
  2. Three closed sections with transitions
2. Composite (or Compound) Ternary
  1. Paired Dances
  2. Minuet (Scherzo) and Trio
  3. The March and Trio
  4. Other combinations
Refrain Forms
1. Concerto Grosso
2. Verse and Refrain Songs
3. Rondeau and Rondo (5-part and 7-part)
4. Sonata-Rondo
One-Part Forms
1. Prelude and Toccata
2. Programmatic One-Part Forms
3. Contrapuntal Forms
Variation Forms
1. Theme and Variations (Sectional Variations)
2. Continuous Variations
3. Developing Variations
Contrapuntal Genres
1. Compositional Process as Form
2. Head-Motive Structures
  1. Imitative Motet
  2. Invention
  3. Fugue
  4. Canon
Multi-Movement Structures
1. The Suite
2. The Sonata
3. The Cycle
Summary of Analytical Procedure
1. Background Research
2. Listening
3. Segmenting of Motives and Themes
4. Harmonic Analysis
5. Phrase Structure Analysis
6. Segmentation of Larger Formal Divisions
7. Categorization with Regard to Larger Formal Units
8. Discussion of the Whole and its Place in Musical Literature

Selected Bibliography

Berry, Wallace. Form in Music: An Examination of Traditional Techniques of Musical Structure and their Application in Historical and Contemporary Styles. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966. (Well-organized and thorough)
Caplin, William. Classical Form: A Theory of Formal Functions for the Instrumental Music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. London: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Fontaine, Paul. Basic Formal Structures in Music. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts (Meredith Publishing Company), 1967.
Green, Douglass M. Form in Tonal Music: An Introduction to Analysis. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1979 (second edition), 1965 (first edition). (Sometimes confusing and unclear, but good for complete terminology.)
Kohs, Ellis B. Musical Form: Studies in Analysis and Synthesis. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1976. (Very wide variety of formal considerations are discussed in depth)
Morris, R. O. The Structure of Music. London: Oxford University Press, 1935. (This is an old standard text.)
Spencer, Peter and Peter M. Temko. A Practical Approach to the Study of Form in Music. Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc., 1994. Originally published Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall (Simon & Schuster), 1988. (Clear and consise. Perfect for undergraduate form classes. However, if you want thoroughness, go for Green or Kohs.)

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