Elementary parts of composition
Initially I did not want to load this article with theory at all, besides I myself am not very good at these terms, but in the end I decided that it will be useful to show some surface – oddly enough, I have not found in the network a clear definition of the following terms. And no articles where it could all be pieced together and fully chewed up.
Well, let’s fill that gap! Let’s start from the simplest structure:
A motif is the smallest part of a tune that carries meaning. A group of notes of literally 2-3 pieces or slightly more.
Phrase – consists of 2 or more motifs that form a relatively complete melody.
Proposal – consists usually of 2 phrases (though not necessarily) and is within a single harmonic turn (cadence).
Period – the smallest form within which a complete musical composition can be made. It often consists of 2 sentences.
A period is called square if it is divided into two equally long sentences and includes 8, 16 or 32 bars, and so on in geometric progression, but it is unlikely that further volumes will be widely demanded.
The overall structure of the composition. It must necessarily involve 3 points:
- Introduction
- Development
- Ending .
This is like a story that has to tell you something, tell you something, reveal the essence of the questions posed at the beginning. There has to be some movement, development, and at the same time there has to be a certain general line, so that the story starts with one thing and does not end with something completely different.
Contrasts. Use contrasts in everything – quiet-loud, fast-slow, simple-complex, bright-dark, etc., to give the composition a place and a way to develop.
Song Structure
Now that we’ve broken down the specific example, we can break down the typical song structure in general. As mentioned above, there are two main structures:
C – verse.
P is the chorus.
Already from these you can, given some rules, make a song. Let’s put it this way:
C-P-C-P .
Or like this:
C-C-C-C-C-P .
And you can introduce some other parts:
VC – the introduction and the ending. I’ll combine them into one item, because half of the time they may be identical to each other, and half of the time they are not.
C is the solo. Or breakdown – like D in the example above.
Then you could make it like this:
VC-C-P-C-P-VC .
Or like this:
VC-C-C-P-C-P-S-P-VC
Or in general this way:
VC-C-C-P-C-P-C-C-P-C-P
In this case, the second solo will be the ending. Or you can do the song without a refrain altogether, just on different variations of the verse:
C1-C2-C3…
Or instead of chorus, you can use an instrumental playback. Yeah, well, spin it any way you want. The main thing is to have a logical beginning, a development, a climax and an ending.