This free course, Listening for form in popular music, explores form, or how music is organised in time. It looks at three strategies for communicating form – through the use of specialist terms (such as ‘chorus’ and ‘bridge’), alphabetic designations (for example AABA), and visual diagrams. It also considers how the form of a song works with its lyrics to create meaning.This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course A234 Understanding music.
Overview
Syllabus
- Introduction
- Learning outcomes
- 1 Form and popular song
- 1 Form and popular song
- 2 Verses and choruses
- 2 Verses and choruses
- 3 Identifying choruses
- 3 Identifying choruses
- 4 Identifying verses
- 4 Identifying verses
- 5 Song structure and meaning
- 5 Song structure and meaning
- 6 Other elements of song structure
- 6 Other elements of song structure
- 7 The bridge
- 7 The bridge
- 8 The pre-chorus
- 8 The pre-chorus
- 9 Music, meaning and the pre-chorus
- 9 Music, meaning and the pre-chorus
- 10 Introductions
- 10 Introductions
- 11 Instrumental interludes
- 11 Instrumental interludes
- 12 Endings
- 12 Endings
- 13 Alphabetic representations of form
- 13 Alphabetic representations of form
- 14 Studying form in traditional dance music
- 14 Studying form in traditional dance music
- 15 Strategies for representing form
- 15 Strategies for representing form
- 16 Check your learning
- 16 Check your learning
- Conclusion
- Glossary
- References
- Acknowledgements
