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In music, form refers to the structure of a musical composition or performance. In his book, Worlds of Music, Jeff Todd Titon suggests that a number of organizational elements may determine the formal structure of a piece of music, such as "the arrangement of musical units of rhythm, melody, and/or harmony that show repetition or variation, the arrangement of the instruments (as in the order of solos in a jazz or bluegrass performance), or the way a symphonic piece is orchestrated", among other factors.[1] It is, "the ways in which a composition is shaped to create a meaningful musical experience for the listener."[2]
"Form refers to the largest shape of the composition. Form in music is the result of the interaction of the four structural elements described above [sound, harmony, melody, rhythm]."[3]
These organizational elements may be broken into smaller units called phrases, which express a musical idea but lack sufficient weight to stand alone.[4] Musical form unfolds over time through the expansion and development of these ideas. In tonal harmony, form is articulated primarily through cadences, phrases, and periods.[2] "Form refers to the larger shape of the composition. Form in music is the result of the interaction of the four structural elements," of sound, harmony, melody, and rhythm.[3]
Although, it has been recently stated that form can be present under the influence of musical contour, also known as Contouric Form.[5] In 2017, Scott Saewitz brought attention to this concept by highlighting the occurrence in Anton Webern's Op.16 No.2.
Compositions that do not follow a fixed structure and rely more on improvisation are considered free-form. A fantasia is an example of this.[6] Composer Debussy in 1907 wrote that, "I am more and more convinced that music is not, in essence, a thing that can be cast into a traditional and fixed form. It is made up of colors and rhythms."[7]
^Titon, Jeff Todd (2009). Worlds of Music: An Introduction to the Music of the World's Peoples. Cooley, Timothy J. (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Schirmer Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-0534595395. OCLC 214315557.
^ abKostka, Stefan and Payne, Dorothy (1995). Tonal Harmony, p.152. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-035874-5.
^ abBenward, Bruce and Saker, Marilyn (2003). Music in Theory and Practice, Vol. 1, p.87. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-294262-2.
^Spring, Glenn (1995). Musical Form and Analysis: Time, Pattern, Proportion. Hutcheson, Jere. Long Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press. pp. [, page needed], . ISBN 978-1478607229. OCLC 882602291.
^Saewitz, Scott, "WEBERN’S LABYRINTH: CONTOUR AND CANONIC INTERACTION– An Analysis of Webern’s Op. 16, No. 2" (2017). CUNY Academic Works.
http://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/159
^Taruskin, Richard (2009). "'Songs' Without Words". Oxford History of Western Music. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199813698.
^Benward & Saker (2009). Music in Theory and Practice, Vol. 2, p.266. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-310188-0.
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