Verse-chorus
Today, the most widely used form in pop music is the verse-chorus form.
Verse-chorus pop songs are laid out like this: Intro ABACBCB.Introduction:The introduction is usually instrumental and sets the
mood of the piece. It can also be a short spoken piece, as in Prince’s
“Let’s Go Crazy.”A (verse):Begins the story of the song.
B (chorus):The hook of the song, both lyrically and musically. Should be
the most memorable, anthemic part of the song. Is often the title, too.A (verse):Part two of the story.
B (chorus):Reinforcing the hook by repetition. This is one reason why it
becomes so memorable.C (bridge):The bridge can be instrumental or lyrical and is different-
sounding than the verse or chorus sections.
B (end, chorus):Repeat chorus to fade or just stop at the I chord
(cadence) after one time through.Next time you’ve got the radio on, see how many pop songs follow this exact
formula. Perhaps the most amazing thing you’ll find is not that so many songs
are built exactly the same way, but how different these songs sound from
each other despite being built the same way.So far we have gone over most of the major forms in Western music. But
besides the familiar scales and modes — beyond the world of do, re, mi— lies
a whole other land of possibilities. Outside of the confines of key signatures
and all the other conventions of tonal (traditional) music is a vast universe
limited only by the constraints of time, imagination, technique, and the twelve
semitones, or half steps, into which the Western octave is divided. It is a uni-
verse filled with accidentals and experimentation, sublimities and absurdities,
some stuff that works — and some stuff that just doesn’t.Jazz.................................................................................................................
The true spirit of jazz has always been improvisation, which makes calling jazz
a “form” most difficult. The goal in jazz is to create a new interpretation of an
established piece (called a standard) — or to build on an established piece of
music by changing the melody, harmonies, or even the time signature.The closest thing to defining jazz form is to take the basic idea behind blues
vocalizations — the call-and-response vocals — and replace the voices with
the various instruments that make up the jazz canon: brass, bass, percussive,154 Part III: Harmony and Structure