Before we talk about musical form, we have to talk about symmetry. If we were to describe symmetry in one word, we would probably pick balance. Our bodies, for example, have symmetry. We have two eyes, both of which are spread evenly away from the center line of our head, where our nose is located. Everything that we have two of is positioned an equal distance from the centerline of our body. In nature, symmetry is all over.

Have you ever watched a movie that seemed like it suddenly ended? The action was just starting to ramp up but then suddenly the resolution and then the credit. This is a symmetry problem and low budget movies are plagued with them because symmetry in art is very difficult to master.

In music, anybody who writes music of any genre has to understand symmetry. Anybody who has gone to an orchestra concert and heard a Haydn symphony may have come away wondering why it was so long and why the same music repeated so many times. One contributing factor to the length of any symphony is the symmetry and symmetry is accomplished by applying a specific musical form.

Although all composers have a different methodology for planning out a piece of music, most will write a main theme, a series of secondary motives, and other notable musical moments. Next, they lay out how those will be arranged.

They might say that there will be some introductory material, then the main theme, then transitional or development material, then the first secondary theme, etc. This is the act of laying out the form of the piece and in order for a piece to sound right, an equal amount of main and accompanying themes has to be achieved. Some pieces of music use specific, more formal musical forms.

Some of these forms include the rondo, sonata, strophic, Ternary, and Binary. Each of these forms have a specific order of events that must take place in order for that particular form to be used but how do they work?

Let’s look at the rondo form. The Rondo form has the form ABACADA. This may seem like some strange code but let’s look at it. Each of these letters is an identification device for different sections of a piece of music. First, the “A” theme is the main theme of the piece. If you were to walk away whistling anything in this piece of music, it will probably be the “A” theme. It’s the motive that this whole piece is constructed around.

Next, the “B” theme is going to be another theme that sounds different from the “A” theme but is based on the “A” theme somehow. (You may not notice it but if you look hard enough, you’ll see it.) Next, we return to the “A” theme and restate it just as it was when we heard it the first time. Then we go to the “C” theme. This is another theme that sounds totally different but is based on the “A” theme somehow.
This pattern can repeat for as many different themes as the composer would like but in order for it to be a piece of music in rondo form, it must always return to the “A” theme before going to another theme.
This is only one example of the many musical forms available.

Many popular songs have musical forms such as ABA, ABCA, ABAB, and so on. Many of the older hymns use the form AB, which of course means verse-chorus, and that can repeat for several times and usually does.

Next time you listen to a piece of music see if you can map out the form of it and see how symmetry is used to make a piece of music flow correctly.

And by the way, the secret to memorizing music is to figure out the form of that particular piece or song. For a course in memorizing music, please click on How To Memorize Music Quickly