Song Form Overview
歌曲形式概述
Song form is more valuable than you might think. Don’t make the mistake of underestimating how important awareness of song form can be when you are writing a song.
歌曲形式比你想像的更有價值。不要錯誤地低估了在寫歌時對歌曲形式的認識是多麼重要。
When you’re vibing to those songs that hit the top of the charts, you’ll notice they often have awesome lyrics and melodies you can’t forget. This is even more likely when you think about those all-time greats. But there’s another piece of the puzzle you might not spot right away: the song structure or its form. When songwriters are creating a new track they don’t just throw words and tunes together; they also think about the music genre they’re aiming for and pick a song structure that fits like a glove. This article gives you a rundown of the most common song forms they use.
當你為那些登上排行榜榜首的歌曲而顫動時，你會注意到它們通常有你無法忘記的精彩歌詞和旋律。當你想到那些歷史上的偉大人物時，這種情況就更有可能了。但是，您可能無法立即發現另一塊拼圖：歌曲結構或其形式。當詞曲作者創作一首新歌時，他們不只是把歌詞和曲調放在一起;他們還會考慮他們所針對的音樂類型，並選擇一個像手套一樣適合的歌曲結構。本文簡要介紹了他們最常用的歌曲形式。
This song form overview provides an introduction to song form, commonly used song forms and examples of those song forms being used in popular songs. It provides a basic understanding of the structure and use of common modern song forms. For simplicity, some of the root musical forms or classifications of musical forms have only been referenced rather than explored completely
本歌曲形式概述介紹了歌曲形式、常用的歌曲形式以及流行歌曲中使用的那些歌曲形式的示例。它提供了對常見現代歌曲形式的結構和使用的基本理解。為簡單起見，一些根音樂形式或音樂形式的分類只是被引用，而不是完全探索
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Table of Contents
目錄
Song Form Overview
歌曲形式概述
Song forms describe the architecture of a song. Most modern songs are generally made up of a number of song sections that may or may not be repeated within the same song. Popular music is generally based on the use of traditional sectional song forms, or song structures that are derived from those traditional song forms.
歌曲形式描述了歌曲的結構。大多數現代歌曲通常由許多歌曲部分組成，這些歌曲 部分可能會或可能不會在同一首歌曲中重複。流行音樂通常基於使用傳統的分段歌曲形式，或從這些傳統歌曲形式衍生而來的歌曲結構。
Song Form Notation
歌曲形式記譜法
Song Form describes the structure of songs in an easy to understand framework. When using a song form, letters are assigned to the different sections of a song, where repeated section types are assigned the same letter as was assigned on the first occurrence of that section type. The letters then create a map of the overall song, or the song architecture of the key feature of that type of song. Thinking of song form helps song writers retain an overview of songs and how the sections of music that make up the song are organized.
歌曲形式以易於理解的框架描述歌曲的結構。使用歌曲形式時，字母被分配給歌曲的不同部分，其中重複的段落類型被分配與該段落類型第一次出現時分配的相同字母。然後，這些字母創建了整首歌曲的地圖，或者該類型歌曲的關鍵特徵的歌曲結構。對歌曲形式的思考有助於歌曲作者保留歌曲的概述以及構成歌曲的音樂部分的組織方式。
Derived song forms are often based upon strophic form (AAA song form), 32-bar form (AABA song form), verse-chorus form (AB song form) and 12-bar blues form (AAB song form). Songs with a different melody and chord progression for each stanza, in other words there are no repeated sections (called ‘through composed form’), are far less common in western popular music.
衍生的歌曲形式通常基於顫音形式（AAA 歌曲形式）、32 小節形式（AABA 歌曲形式）、詩句合唱形式（AB 歌曲形式）和 12 小節布魯斯形式（AAB 歌曲形式）。每節都有不同的旋律和和弦進行的歌曲，換句話說，沒有重複的部分（稱為“通過組合形式”），在西方流行音樂中要少得多。
It should be noted that the meaning of some terms such as “verse” and “chorus” has changed over the years.
應該指出的是，多年來，「詩句」和“合唱”等一些術語的含義發生了變化。
Conflicting Terminology
術語衝突
Some confusion exists, partly due to changes in terminology over the years, and partly due to one word meaning different things in different contexts, such as what the word means in the context of genre, location and what that word means to different groups of people.
存在一些混淆，部分原因是多年來術語的變化，部分原因是一個詞在不同的上下文中含義不同，例如該詞在流派、地點的背景下意味著什麼以及該詞對不同人群的意義。
“Chorus” originally derives from the notion of “multiple-voices” singing a particular section of the song, while the name “chorus” is used for music sections where multiple voices sang together. In classical music the massed voices in opera, or massed voices accompanying an orchestra in any setting, is still termed “the chorus”. The second main use of the name “chorus” is the modern understanding of the section of a song called “a chorus”, which may or may not be sung by multiple voices.
“合唱”最初源自“多個聲音”演唱歌曲的特定部分的概念，而“合唱”這個名字用於多個聲音一起演唱的音樂部分。在古典音樂中，歌劇中的集體聲音，或在任何場合為管弦樂隊伴奏的集體聲音，仍然被稱為“合唱”。“合唱”這個名字的第二個主要用法是對一首叫做“合唱”的歌曲部分的現代理解，它可能是也可能不是由多個聲音演唱的。
Refrain lines can be sung by multiple voices, and using older terminology it is a chorus, in the sense that it can be performed by multiple voices, but can also be sung by a solo voice. However, a refrain is not the chorus section from the verse-chorus song form that we all know and love.
副歌臺詞可以由多個聲部演唱，使用較舊的術語，它是一種合唱，從某種意義上說，它可以由多個聲部演唱，但也可以由獨唱演唱。然而，副歌並不是我們都知道和喜愛的詩歌合唱形式的合唱部分。
A refrain is part of a verse that is repeated from verse to verse. Commonly the refrain is in the last line of the verse, but it doesn’t need to be. It could just as easily be the first line of the verse or, far less commonly, any other line.
副歌是一節經文的一部分，從一節到另一節重複。通常副歌在經文的最後一行，但不需要。它可以很容易地成為這節經文的第一行，或者，更不常見的是任何其他行。
To make it even more confusing, “the verse” hasn’t always meant what we now understand it to mean. “Verse” used to be the name for a 32 bar introduction, before getting to the main piece of music, which was typically AABA in structure (ie a second 32 bar section).
更令人困惑的是，“這節經文”並不總是我們現在所理解的意思。“Verse”曾經是 32 小節引子的名稱，在進入主要音樂部分之前，該音樂通常是 AABA 結構（即第二個 32 小節部分）。
Conflicts in terminology come from a variety of reasons. For example, classical musicians interpreting a term in one way and popular musicians using the term for something different. Or, simply musicians in one area calling a section of music with a name that was already used for another section of music elsewhere. Time passing also brings about change in the meaning of a term as new generations apply the term to something new, or use it in a new, derived way.
術語衝突有多種原因。例如，古典音樂家以一種方式解釋一個術語，而流行音樂家則使用該術語來表示不同的東西。或者，簡單地說，一個地區的音樂家用一個已經用於其他地方的另一部分音樂的名稱來稱呼音樂部分。隨著時間的流逝，隨著新一代人將該術語應用於新事物，或以新的、衍生的方式使用它，也帶來了術語含義的變化。
Root Musical Forms
根音樂形式
There are many terms used for musical forms and classifications of musical forms that are not a song form, or that are musical predecessors to modern song forms, or are classifications of song forms rather than an individual song form. As this article is focused on song forms this is not the place to explore these musical forms in any detail, however for completeness it is worth at least making you aware that musical forms exist outside of song forms. These include:
有許多術語用於音樂形式和音樂形式的分類，這些音樂形式不是歌曲形式，或者是現代歌曲形式的音樂前身，或者是歌曲形式的分類而不是單個歌曲形式的分類。由於本文的重點是歌曲形式，因此不是詳細探討這些音樂形式的地方，但是為了完整起見，至少值得讓您意識到音樂形式存在於歌曲形式之外。這些包括：
- Single Forms
單一形式- Sectional Forms
分段表格- Binary Form, Two Part form, AB, AABB etc.
二元形式，兩部分形式，AB，AABB等 - Ternary Form, Three Part form, ABA, or Ternary Form is original the root of the AABA 32-bar Song Form.
三元形式、三部分形式、ABA 或三元形式是AABA 32小節歌曲形式的原始根。 - Rondo Form. This form is based on a recurring theme alternating with other contrasting themes such as ABACABA
迴旋曲形式。這種形式基於一個反覆出現的主題，與其他對比鮮明的主題（如ABACABA）交替出現 - Medley or Chain Form
混合或鏈式形式
- Binary Form, Two Part form, AB, AABB etc.
- Variational Form
變分形式 - Developmental Form
發展形式- Sonata Form
奏鳴曲形式
- Sonata Form
- Sectional Forms
- Cyclic Forms
迴圈形式- Song Cycle – A set or group of songs intended to be played in a set sequence. A 1970’s concept album would be a good example of this in contemporary music.
歌曲迴圈 – 一組或一組旨在按設定順序播放的歌曲。一張1970年代的概念專輯在當代音樂中就是一個很好的例子。
- Song Cycle – A set or group of songs intended to be played in a set sequence. A 1970’s concept album would be a good example of this in contemporary music.
Common Song Forms And Their Uses
常見的歌曲形式及其用途
Single Form and Sectional Form
單一形式和分段形式
Most modern Western popular music is a type of Single Form, known collectively as Sectional Forms, in that Sectional Forms are built upon a sequence of distinct sections that can be referred to by letter labels. These sections often have a more specific name. You will probably be familiar with most of them, for example:
大多數現代西方流行音樂都是一種單一形式，統稱為分段形式，因為分段形式建立在一系列不同的部分之上，這些部分可以通過字母標籤來引用。這些部分通常具有更具體的名稱。您可能熟悉其中的大多數，例如：
- Introduction (Intro)
簡介（Intro） - Coda (Outro)
尾聲 （結尾） - Verse
詩句 - Chorus
合唱 - Bridge
橋
Sectional forms include:
分段形式包括：
- Strophic or AAA Song Form
Strophic 或 AAA 歌曲形式 - AABA Song Form
AABA歌曲形式 - AB or Verse/Chorus Song Form
AB 或詩歌/合唱歌曲形式 - Verse/Chorus/Bridge Song Form
詩歌/副歌/橋段歌曲形式 - ABAB Song Form
ABAB歌曲形式 - ABAC Song Form
ABAC歌曲形式 - ABCD Song Form
ABCD歌曲形式 - 12-Bar Song Form
12小節歌曲形式 - 8-Bar Song Form
8小節歌曲形式 - 16-Bar Song Form
16小節歌曲形式 - Hybrid / Compound Song Forms
混合/複合歌曲形式
Core Song Forms In More Detail
核心歌曲形式更詳細
Strophic / AAA / One-Part Song Form
Strophic / AAA / 單聲部歌曲形式
What do Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’“, The Animal’s “House of the Rising Sun” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” all have in common? They all rock the AAA song structure.
鮑勃·迪倫（Bob Dylan）的《他們正在改變的時代》（The Times They Are A-Changin'）、《動物》（The Animal）的《旭日之家》（House of the Rising Sun）和倫納德·科恩（Leonard Cohen）的《哈利路亞》（Hallelujah）有什麼共同點？他們都搖滾著 AAA 歌曲結構。
Strophic Form is also called AAA Song Form or One-Part Song Form. AAA song form is one of the oldest sectional song forms. It originates in the adaption of poems, with composers setting the poems to music to perform them for the entertainment of the royal courts of Europe.
Strophic Form也稱為AAA歌曲形式或One-Part Song Form。AAA歌曲形式是最古老的分段歌曲形式之一。它起源於詩歌的改編，作曲家將詩歌改編成音樂，為歐洲皇家宮廷的娛樂表演。
This song form is all about different sections or verses (that’s the A part) coming together without a chorus or a bridge in sight. The melody is repeated, in Strophic Song Form, and each time the melody repeats different words are sung to the melody. This makes it an ideal song form for story telling.
這種歌曲形式是關於不同的部分或詩句（即 A 部分）聚集在一起，看不到合唱或橋樑。旋律以 Strophic 歌曲形式重複，每次旋律重複時，都會隨著旋律唱出不同的詞。這使它成為講故事的理想歌曲形式。
AAA form songs are comprised of several verses.
AAA 格式的歌曲由幾節經文組成。
They often feature a refrain – think of it as a catchy line that gets repeated in the same spot in every verse. The refrain is commonly the title of the song and it is usually included at the end of each verse. Its repetition emphasizes the line, driving it home each time with the same melody.
To find out the details on AAA Song Form please read our article AAA Song Form.
AAB Form - 12 Bar Blues
The 12-bar form used in the AAB song form is strongly associated with the blues. Many Blues songs are in the AAB format. 12-bar” relates to the number of bars of music, or measures, making up the theme of typical Blues songs. Almost all Blues music is written in a 4/4 time signature, i.e. there are four beats in every measure or bar with each quarter note (crotchet) being equal to one beat.
The fundamental structure of 12 Bar Blues is three four-bar lines or sub-sections. Often the first two and a half bars of each 4 bar section are vocal melody, while the last one and a half bars contains an instrumental melodic hook that gives a sense of completion for the line.
The common variants for 12-Bar blues are 8-Bar form and 16-Bar form.
To find out the details on AAB Song Form please read our article AAB Song Form
AABA Song Form / American Popular Song Form
Commonly referred to as the American Popular Song Form or Ballad Form, AABA Form structure kicks off with two opening sections or verses (marked as ‘A’), followed by a bridge (‘B’) that contrasts both musically and lyrically with the verses, and wraps up with a final ‘A’ section. Examples of AABA form would be the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by Judy Garland, “Yesterday” by The Beatles, and “Georgia On My Mind” by Ray Charles.
This is one of the most commonly used forms in both jazz and early to mid-twentieth century popular music. The AABA format was the song form of choice for Tin Pan Alley songwriters of American popular music, an East Coast USA songwriter scene based in New York City, in the first half of the 20th century. Tin Pan Alley song writers included song writing greats like Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, Sammy Cahn, Hoagy Carmichael, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, George and Ira Gershwin.
The dominance of the AABA song form faded during the 1960s. The rise in popularity of rock ‘n’ roll and the rise of groups like The Beatles changed the popular music landscape. Before The Beatles broke off into other song writing formats, they heavily used AABA song form in many songs.
This song form is used in several music genres including pop, jazz and gospel.
To find out the details on AABA Song Form read our article AABA Song Form
AB or Verse/Chorus Song Form and ABA' Song Form or Verse/Chorus/Bridge Song Form
Often seen in love ballads, pop, country, and rock music, this song arrangement typically features verses that change in content while maintaining a consistent chorus both musically and lyrically. Hits such as Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep”, Ed Sheeran’s “Shape Of You” and The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” showcase this structure perfectly. When writing a song with a verse/chorus format, it’s common to get to the chorus swiftly, which means that the verses should be kept pretty short.
AB format has been the song writing format of choice for modern popular music since the 1960s. It is often used in love songs, pop, country, rap and rock music. Unlike the AABA form or AAA, which both highlight the verse, AB format puts emphasis entirely on the chorus. Although the AB Song Form has been around since the mid-nineteenth century, most popular songs from the classic rock period forward are written in the AB Song Form.
Most popular songs from the classic rock period forward are written in the AB Song Form that has been around since the mid-nineteenth century. The AB Song Form consists of two or three verses that alternate with a second musical section referred to as the chorus. The chorus usually contains the song’s main message and title. It is differentiated from a bridge in that it sounds complete on a stand-alone basis. As with blues progressions, not all AB Song Form songs are found in the typical 32-bar length. Verses and choruses can be any length, however, most are four, eight, twelve, sixteen, or twenty-four bars long.
The first and most obvious form derived from AB is that of ABA’ Song Form, also called VERSE/CHORUS/BRIDGE Song Form. This is essentially AB song form with the addition of another third section, a bridge.
To find out the details on AB Song Form, ABA’ Song Form and other AB derived song forms, please read our article AB Song Form.
ABC Song Form
The ABC song form refers to a structure where each section of the song is different from the others, without repeating sections in the same order. This form is characterized by distinct and separate musical or thematic sections, typically without recurring verses or choruses. Each letter (A, B, C) represents a different part of the song, with no strict pattern for repetition. This form allows for a lot of creativity and variation within a song, making it less common in pop music but prevalent in more complex compositions.
Examples of ABC form would be “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen, “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin and “Paranoid Android” by Radiohead.
To find out the details on ABC Song Form please read our article ABC Song Form.
Extended Song Forms And More
Extended song forms build upon one of the root “whole song” song forms. For example AABA song form is often extended to an AABABA song structure.
There are also less commonly used song structures, such as ABAB and ABAC.
Mainly used in art-song tradition songs in classical music, when a song is “through-composed” it means that no musical ideas are repeated without variation. Also called ABCD, this form is highly uncommon in popular music.
To find out the details on extended song forms and other song forms, including ABCD song form (through composed) read our article Extended Song Forms.
Compound Song Forms
Compound song forms are also sometimes called hybrid song forms. They use a blend of two or more song forms together within one song. This is a combination of two or more song form structural concepts where a base song form is used to describe the overall song architecture, and the structural concept of other song forms are is inserted into the base song form, replacing one of the existing named sections.
To find out the details about compound song forms please read our article A Guide To Song Forms – Compound Song Forms.
Song Building Blocks
A number of common structural elements of a song have been mentioned during this article.
The most common building blocks are:
- INTRODUCTION(INTRO)
- VERSE
- REFRAIN
- PRE-CHORUS / RISE / CLIMB
- CHORUS
- BRIDGE
- MIDDLE EIGHT
- SOLO / INSTRUMENTAL BREAK
- COLLISION
- CODA / OUTRO
- AD LIB (OFTEN IN CODA / OUTRO)
For details about these common song building blocks, how and why they are used, please read our article, “Song Building Blocks“.
Song Form Tips For Songwriters
For songwriters, it is usually a good idea to consider the genre you are writing for and choose a song form that best suits the genre.
- Develop Your Awareness Of Current Song Writing Trends – Listen to songs currently on top of the Billboard charts and work out the structure that each song follows.
- Experiment With Song Form – Try out different song forms, learning how they work, and how they work together. This is a worthwhile learning exercise, even if you don’t plan on doing anything with the specific song.
- Variation – It pays to vary the song forms you use, and it can also help you break out of a song writing rut, where the songs you create are feeling too similar, too predictable.
- Genre – Some song forms are used heavily for specific genres of music. Some are obvious, such as AAB being used in blues, but the dominance of specific song forms within a genre is not always so easy to spot. Developing your awareness of both historical use, and current usage trends will help you to select the most appropriate song forms when you are writing with a target genre in mind.
Working Out What Song Form Has Been Used
Some song forms are very distinctive, such as AAB, because of the musical scales used in the melody is a blues scale. They are very easy to spot. Others are far less obvious.
How do you know which song form is being used?
When you listen to a song, break it down into sections. There are a number of ways you can work out the structure of a song:
- Lyrics are a good guide to the overall structure of a song. Look for:
- The placement of repeated phrases
- Changes in meter
- Changes in the rhyme scheme
- How the title is used and where the song title is used
- Listen for:
- 4-bar phrases, 8-bar phrases, 16-bar phrases
- The feeling of closure or resolution(Cadence)
- Melodic repeats
Once you have worked out what sections the song uses, you can assign the individual sections letters, with strongly similar sections being assigned the same letter. The map of the song si then outlined using these letters as section names.
Conclusion
Song forms are an important aspect of song writing. They are not a solution to all song writing problems, but they are a very useful tool for songwriters to use.
There is no value in re-inventing the wheel. What you can do, however, is learn from generations of songwriters, and then use what you have learned in your own creative process. Song forms give you an ideal way to do just that.
By learning about common song forms you also learn a way to quickly and effectively discuss songs with other song writers, you gain a greater understanding of songs that have gone before, and gain an insight into the thoughts and considerations of the songwriters who penned classic and current hits. You also gain an understanding of just how you can easily vary the structure of your own songs, and how you can improve the songs you still have to write.
Not a bad pay off for learning a couple of basic concepts and a few common ways those concepts are applied.
Like most learning, starting tomorrow is good, but starting today is even better.
Discuss this article in our Music Forum.
Related Articles
Do you want to find out more about songwriting and lyric writing? If so, you can find articles and tutorials on our our Songwriting and Lyric Writing Articles page.
For ideas about how to keep your song interesting, please read our article, “Keeping A Song Interesting“.
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