"Pachelbel Rant" by musical comedian Rob Paravonian became a viral video several years ago, and although he begins the song by poking fun at the supposed uncool nature of playing the cello as a child, he make an excellent point about creative music composition in a humorous way. (Warning: may contain inappropriate language for young ears).
Last week's post explored the fine arts-quality (or lack there of as the case may be) in today's pop music. Today, let's take a peek at the artistry in today's music output.
Just as poetic forms exist to define existing poems or assist in shaping poetic order, musical forms have been heavily involved in how we listen to music today. Whether you listen to country, hip hop, rock, jazz, or indie, 99% of the musical output of today's composers and songwriters is dictated by what we understand as acceptable musical form. Certain expected patterns form most of the music that we are comfortable with, and these patterns are typically formed from verses, refrains, tags, and bridges.
Most songs contain two to three verses, where one set of music returns multiple times with varying lyrics. For example,
Verse 1: Amazing grace how sweet the sound...
Verse 2: Twas grace that taught my heart to fear...
Verse 3: When we've been there ten thousand years...
A refrain is usually the main theme or idea of a song. It's the part of the song that gets stuck in your head when you can't remember the rest of the song. For example,
"So bye, bye Miss American Pie, drove my Chevy to the levy
but the levy was dry; them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye,
singing, 'this'll be the day that I die, this'll be the day that I die..."
A tag is most used as a intro, an ending, or a transition, and is a phrase or word that repeats over and over. For instance,
"Na na na na na na na, na na na na, hey Jude.
Na na na na na na na, na na na na, hey Jude."
Finally, a bridge is a new section of music with different lyrics (or an instrumental-only section) that is usually used about 2/3 through the song to give your ear something new to listen to. One example (from Bon Jovi's "Livin on a Prayer") is
"Hold on, ready or not; you live for the fight when that's all that you've got."
Now. Having said all of that, when you look at the song as a whole and map out the patterns of the music and lyrics, that is called the form. There are various types of form-- strophic (AAAAA...) would be a song that was completely repetitive musically, though the words may vary. The opposite end of the spectrum would be a chain form (ABCDE...). You might hear this in a medley of songs (eg. "Evolution of Dance").
Without going into all of the various type (binary, ternary, sonata allegro, rondo, etc.) let's consider the musical form of most popular music today. Usually it looks a little something like this:
Verse 1 - Chorus - Verse 2 - Chorus - Chorus - Bridge - Chorus
Another popular set up would be as follows:
Verse 1 - Verse 2 - Chorus - Chorus - Verse 3 - Chorus
I would make a guess that about 80% of the music I hear today, regardless of genre, fits into one of these two molds, or something very similar. (If you don't believe me, simply look up the lyrics to any song and break it down yourself!). This means we are mercilessly cramming endless musical possibilities into the exact same-shaped mold. The more music we consume that fits this cookie cutter form of musical writing, the less creative and artistic our music becomes.
One final note: As I have considered this topic over the past several years, I have acquired a greater appreciation for rap artists, whose music refreshingly smashes this patterned formula to the ground much more frequently than any other genre I have encountered (save band/orchestral, upper level choral, and chamber music). Not allowing our brains to be passive music sponges, but challenging our ears and stimulating our minds is such a valuable, worthwhile exercise. I encourage you to step out of your stylistic comfort zone to consider the artistry in music you are less familiar with. Happy listening!
