A discussion of Musical Form can not begin until we understand the various Formal Levels on which most music operates. Here is the hierarchy of Form:

Meta Form: Works (like Symphonies) that go together. In Film, this is the level of "Trilogy". Smetena's Six Tone Poems "My Country" of which "The Moldau" is the most famous is an example.

Composite or Compound Forms: Works made up of other smaller forms we call Movements or similar. Symphonies, Concerti, Sonatas, Masses, Suites, Ballets and Operas are all Composite Forms.

Piece-Level Form: The "real" definition of Form is at this level - the level of a single piece of music that begins and ends, and has its own conclusion. Thus from a single work, such as a Bach Prelude, to a Movement from a Composite form, such as the Finale of a Symphony, are included here. This is the most discussed area of Form because it is the most consistent and for composers, repeatable.

Phrase-Level Form: This is the next most important level of Form from a compositional standpoint (from a structural standpoint though the Composite Level is obviously important in multi-movement settings). This has to do with Phrases and Periods and Cadences - the "sentences" of Form.

Thus, Phrase Level Form is like a line or stanza of a poem, whereas Piece Level Form is like the Poem itself. A Composite Form is like a collection of four poems with a similar theme (like maybe the Four Seasons) and the Meta Form would be like a collection of Poems in one book, and then another book that continues themes from the previous collection.

Continuing the vocabulary analogy, Phrase Level Form is like Sentence Structure and Grammar. When we talk about individual Words, we're talking about musical Motives, which is the final Level of Form.

Motive-Level Form: There's not much to be said here because really, Motives are not really forms in themselves, but generators of Form. But sometimes we do need to look at this level to understand how larger elements of form are connected. For example, the opening motive to Beethoven's 5th Symphony (GGG Eb) is not only important for the initial movement, but for all the movements in the work.

The problem most composers have is that they concentrate on either the Motive Level, or the Composite Level: "I want to write a Symphony" - and they know it's four movements, but they have no idea of what each movement is or what it entails. Likewise, they come up with "I want to write a Fugue" and they learn about Subjects and Answers, etc. but not the overall Form of a Fugue.

Finally, the biggest mistake everyone makes is concentrating on the Phrase-Level Form. I blame this on Songs. The stellar example is the "form" 12-Bar Blues. Many people say that 12-Bar Blues is a "Form" and it goes
A A B.

It's not, and it doesn't. The TEXT might go A A B, but the music doesn't necessarily. And this brings up a very important point:

Music with Text may in fact follow the form of the Text (and thus an understanding of textual forms is important as well). Then again, there are works in which the music has little to do with the text. Both are possible.

Let's think about a pop music song for a second. Most pop music songs have Verses and Choruses, and maybe Bridges, Intros, Outros, etc. Take for example "Help" by the Beatles. It begins with a Chorus and then goes into a Verse. The Verse is:
When I was young so much younger than today
I never needed anybody's help in any way
etc.

We call that part of the Verse. You see, we don't really care about the "sentence structure" of each line (or even the pair of lines). But every time I see an example of "Rounded Binary Form" I see the following example:
Oh I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee,
I'm going to Louisiana my Susannah for to see.
Oh Susannah, don't you cry for me.
For I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee.

Well the text is certainly A B C A.
The Rhyme Scheme is A A A A.
But Musically, the structure of the harmony (and melody) is A A B A.

Firstly, it's not Rounded Binary (it's Ternary) and secondly, that's not the Form of the PIECE!!! This is but one verse of this entire piece. Thirdly, it's not even how the piece was written by Stephen Foster in 1847! The original has the following form: Verse Verse Chorus, Verse Verse Chorus.

Musically speaking, it's A A B, A A B, or simply A A B repeated (this is called Song Form or Bar Form often).

Now, the text is A B C, D E C - with C being the Chorus or "refrain" as it's often called.

Repeats of a single section, or multiple contiguous sections do not affect our analysis of Form. Thus A B is the same as A A B B or |: A :||: B :|. Also, A B is the same as |: A B :|. Thus Oh Susannah is |: A A B :| musically speaking.

So using songs is a dangerous methodology for comparison to Piece-Level form which is what composers should be concentrating on. Comprehending "Verse" and "Chorus" is good, but a "line" or "stanza" (unless a stanza represents an entire section) is not very helpful.

Where I find most composers are lacking is in their ability to write good Piece Level forms. For many, their "form" is simply a patchwork of lower level elements they've pieced together - two phrases here, connected to four phrases here, connected to a 2 measure interlude, etc. etc. They've basically just shoved a bunch of stuff together.

Again, this goes back to what I've written many times before: Composer: "I've got 16 bars and now I don't know what to do with them". Yes, that's because you understand how to write an antecedent and consequent phrase because you've studied that, and heard billions of simple folk tunes you could use as a model. But, the reason you can't make it go anywhere is because you don't understand how Phrase-Level elements work within the larger scale Piece-Level form.

So composers need to concentrate on, what makes a SECTION, not what makes a phrase (or a movement, etc.). I'm going to post another article on that particular subject.

Stay tuned...