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Information about Thirty Two Bar Form

The thirty-two-bar form, often shortened to AABA, is a musical form common in Tin Pan Alley songs, later popular music including rock and pop music, and jazz. Though "there were few instances of it in any type of popular music until the late teens," it became "the principal form" around 1925-1926. (Wilder 1972, p. 56)

"In this form, the musical structure of each chorus is made up of four eight-bar sections, in an AABA pattern...Thousands of Tin Pan Alley tunes share this scheme and Adorno is quite justified in arguing that to listeners of the time it would be totally predictable. Moreover, within the chorus, the identical music is heard" more than once: "it is, to use Adorno's phrase, 'the same familiar experience' that is emphasized (1941: 18)." (Middleton 1990, p.46)


The A section or verse is harmonically closed, usually cadencing on the tonic. The B section or middle eight is often referred to as the bridge and sometimes as the release. Modulation is common and the bridge remains harmonically open, often ending on the dominant of the home key, preparing the return of the verse (Covach, p.69).

One of the best examples of the AABA form is the song "I Got Rhythm" and its chord progression: "Rhythm changes".

Tin Pan Alley

Most Tin Pan Alley songs consisted of a verse or "sectional verse", and a refrain or "sectional refrain", often in thirty-two-bar form. The sectional verse is often omitted from modern performances and thus the refrain is often the only section remembered and heard. Perhaps the most recognizable example, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", however, consists of a full AABA scheme and a reprise of two verses and an ending based on the bridge material. (Covach 2005, p.70)

One example is "Down in Mexico Way", in which, "the A sections...are doubled in length, to sixteen bars - but this affects the overall scheme only marginally" (ibid)...

Later rock and pop

Thirty-two-bar form was often used in rock in the 1950s and 60s, after which verse-chorus form became more prevalent. Examples (ibid, 71) include: The Brill Building and other songwriters, such as Lennon-McCartney, often used modified thirty-two-bar forms, often modifying the number of measures in individual or all sections. Examples include (ibid, p.70): Compound AABA form is the combination of a AABA like bridge (B) that contrasts and prepares the return of a verse-chorus pair (A). The Police's "Every Breath You Take" (1983), features a thirty-two-bar section, a contrasting bridge, and then a repeat of the thirty-two-bar section, making a compound of ABA and AABA form. Other examples include:
(ibid, p.74-75)

Sources

  • Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). Studying Popular Music. Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 0-335-15275-9.
  • Covach, John. "Form in Rock Music: A Primer", in Stein, Deborah (2005). Engaging Music: Essays in Music Analysis. New York: Oxford University Press''. ISBN 0-19-517010-5.
  • Wilder, Alec (1972). American Popular Song: The Great Innovators 1900-1950. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-501445-6.

External links

The term musical form refers to two related concepts:
  • the type of composition (for example, a musical work can have the form of a symphony, a concerto, or other generic type -- see Multi-movement forms below)

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Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City-centered music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
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Rock 'n' Roll (short for Rock and Roll), is a genre of music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and quickly spread to the rest of the world. It later spawned the various sub-genres of what is now called simply 'rock music'.
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This article has been tagged since October 2007.

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Jazz is an original American musical art form that originated around the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in and around New Orleans.

Overview

Jazz has been called "America's only original art form.
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Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund Adorno (September 11, 1903 – August 6, 1969) was a German sociologist, philosopher, pianist, musicologist, and composer. He was a member of the Frankfurt School along with Max Horkheimer, Walter Benjamin, Herbert Marcuse, Jürgen Habermas, and others.
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bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section. The bridge may be the middle-eight in a thirty-two-bar form (the B in AABA), or it may be used more loosely in verse-chorus form, or, in a compound AABA form, used as a contrast to
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In music, modulation is most commonly the act or process of changing from one key (tonic, or tonal center) to another. This may or may not be accompanied by a change in key signature. Modulations articulate or create the structure or form of many pieces, as well as add interest.
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"I Got Rhythm" is a song composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, published in 1930, which became a widely-known jazz standard. Its chord progression, known as the "Rhythm changes", is the foundation for many other popular jazz tunes such as Charlie Parker's Bebop
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In jazz, rhythm changes are a modified form of the chord progression of George Gershwin's song "I Got Rhythm", which form the basis of countless (usually uptempo) jazz compositions.
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A refrain (from the Old French refraindre "to repeat," likely from Vulgar Latin refringere) is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song.
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Over the Rainbow"

Music by Harold Arlen
Lyrics by E.Y. Harburg
Published 1939

Language English

Original artist Judy Garland (1939)
Recorded by Ray Charles,
Frank Sinatra,
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
Eva Cassidy ...
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reprise (IPA rəˈpriz) (pronounced rih-PREEZ; doesn't rhyme with "surprise")[1] is the repetition or return of the opening material later in a composition such as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though it originally (18th century) was simply any
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Verse-chorus form is a musical form common in popular music and predominant in rock since the 1960s. In contrast to AABA form, which is focused on the verse (contrasted and prepared by the bridge), in verse-chorus form the chorus is highlighted (prepared and contrasted with the
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Verse-chorus form is a musical form common in popular music and predominant in rock since the 1960s. In contrast to AABA form, which is focused on the verse (contrasted and prepared by the bridge), in verse-chorus form the chorus is highlighted (prepared and contrasted with the
..... Click the link for more information.
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Format vinyl record (7")
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