Chapter 10: Fundamental Forms, I. Sectional Form
You might enjoy this poem: "The Nature of Musical Form," by William Bronk.
Don't forget to check for student input at the bottom of the page.
Assignment
1) In What to Listen For in Music, by Aaron Copland, read Chapters 9 &10 before coming to this class. As you read, be sure to listen to the musical excerpts provided within the chapters (below on this page). Listen to them as you encounter them; then continue reading.
2) Listen to the poem, "The Nature of Musical Form," read by the author, William Bronk, HERE. Listen first, then if you wish, read the poem HERE.
Start by reading the poem itself, in italics beside the vertical gray line. Think about it, and read it more than once if you find it difficult. Read the introduction afterward, if you wish, but it's not essential. In fact, I strongly recommend avoiding all commentary about a work of art, literature, or music until you have experienced it fully yourself. You do not need the imprimatur of the cognoscenti to decide what appeals to you and has meaning for you.
It is your response to art that matters.
Listen !
Here are videos of the musical excerpts that Copland provides within the text, along with suggested listening for each chapter. Excerpts performed and recorded by Adam Matlock.
Chapter 9 (musical structure)
Excerpts for Chapter 9
Page 98
Score for above; click to enlarge.
Page 99
Score for above; click to enlarge.
Page 100
Score for above; click to enlarge.
Page 101
Score for above; click to enlarge.
Here is a rendition of the folk song, with voice and piano, recorded around 1949.
And here is another, with some variations in the tune, enough to make it a bit hard to follow on the score above. This one has rousing harmonic accompaniment, and reminds me of shape-note singing.
Copland's Musical Recommendations for Chapter 9 (musical structure)
1) Schumann—Scenes from Childhood, Vladimir Horowitz
2) Beethoven—Sonata in C-sharp Minor, Opus 27, Valentina Lisitsa
On pages 99-100, Copland discusses the second movement (begins at 5:20), as an example of a-b-a (or perhaps a-a'-b-a) form (the passage in the text runs from about 5:20 to 6:00). Read his description and see if you can hear everything he speaks of, including the "certain displacement in the rhythm" when the first a section is immediately repeated.
Additional, for Chapter 9 (musical structure)
Listen for a-b-a and related patterns in these tunes.
• Dream a Little Dream of Me -- Mama Cass (I think you would say a-a-b-a-b-a.)
• Crazy Little Thing Called Love -- Queen (a-a-b-a before the guitar solo)
••••••
Chapter 10 (sectional form)
Excerpts for Chapter 10
Pages 107-108
Score for above; click to enlarge.
Pages 113-114
Score for above; click to enlarge.
Suggested Listening
1) F. Couperin -- Le Moucheron
2) D. Scarlatti -- Sonatas, # 413
2) Haydn—Quartet, Opus 17, No. 5 Menuet begins at 6:12; see page 107, and Adams' page 107-8 excerpt above.
3) Beethoven—Sonata in E flat, Opus 27, No. 1 ("Moonlight Sonata")
4) Chopin—Preludes Click SHOW MORE to navigate; No. 15 is mentioned on page 110. See if you can follow Copland's description. If you like this music, listen to more, and read what the commenter says about each piece. This page at YouTube is a great example of some whoever out there taking it upon themselves to help educate the world by sharing a passion.
5) Bartók—Suite for Piano
6) Tchaikovsky -- Nutcracker Suite
6) Tchaikovsky/Duke Ellington -- Nutcracker Suite Jazz arrangement of Tchaikovsky's ballet suite.
Additional, for Chapter 10 (form, sectional)
• G. F. Handel -- Water Music (a suite of dances; titles of the movements under SHOW MORE.)
[The following refers to an older video that has been deleted. Read it for information about a group you might want to listen to. If you are familiar with this popular work, you might find this recording somewhat different in style and sound. The conductor, Nikolaus Harnoncourt (1929-2016), was a scholar of authentic performance styles and instruments of the baroque period (early 1600s to late 1700s). Nikolaus and his wife Alice co-founded Concentus Musicus Vien in 1953. They used original styles and instruments of the period, so their concerts are like combining a musical evening with a visit to a museum. Concentus Musicus Wien has produced a very large body of recordings and is still active. For the complete work, try this recording by Akademie für alte Musik Berlin a more recent group (founded 1982) that performs with period instruments.
• Ravel -- Le Tombeau de Couperin, Menuet, or complete suite -- Click SHOW MORE to navigate the movements. Copland, page 108-109: “The typical A-B-A form is present, with these differences: The return to the A section is made up of an ingenious combination of both A and B at the same time; and a fairly elaborate coda is added at the end. But nothing essential to the form of the minuet has been changed.”
• Leôs Janáček -- Sinfonietta (1926) -- Click SHOW MORE to navigate the movements. In both of these recommended pieces, see if you can discern sectional forms within movements. The moderato movement is a good one to try.
Also note very different orchestral voices or colors of these two roughly contemporary composers.
• The Beatles -- Medley of eight songs on side 2 of the album Abbey Road, might be considered a single piece in sectional form. (Sorry, no link to this music, because it is hard to find authentic Beatles recordings on YouTube.) The medley includes the songs or fragments You Never Give Me Your Money, Sun King, Mean Mr. Mustard, Polythene Pam, She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight (which bring back elements of the first song), and The End. Listen to them, thinking of them as a single composition. In particular, notice the different kinds of links between them, which become tighter as the medley proceeds.
AFTER you listen carefully and think about these matters for yourself, read THE BEATLES ABBEY ROAD MEDLEY DISSECTED, for one person's take on the medley.
• Dave Brubeck Quartet -- Blue Ronda a la Turk
Question: Is this a rondo? (See page 110 ff.)
Student Input
From Spring 2019
none yet
From Spring 2018
Received April 11
Hey Gale:
This week’s issue in my wife’s New Yorker subscription arrived today and the cover jumped out at me. I looked it up and found this:
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cover-story/cover-story-2018-04-16 If you hover over each snippet of written music with the cursor, the music is rendered for you.
Tom Werley
Thanks, Tom.
When I got the issue in the mail, I went right to the New Yorker's iPhone app, but its cover was silent. The page you sent has all the sounds, and a story about the creation of the page.
Percussion instruments
