How Do You Structure Your Music?

[Alex Dunn]

I was always taught about structure in purely musical terms like sonata form or binary form etc. I was wondering if there are any composers out there who think about structuring their pieces in other ways, like painting a picture, or writing a story?

[Ray Kemp]

Let me answer a question with a question, even though such a thing may be annoying.

Who or what is your target audience? Yourself maybe? Your peers here? Unless you have a customer in mind for your output then it doesn't really matter what kind of scaffolding you use. If you're just looking to discuss the niceties of form then you better stick with something that has classical form. In this 21st century I think one should think as long and hard about production standards of any recording. Orchestra's don't grow on trees. Just one point of view!

[Adrian Allan]

I use the guidelines of structure very loosely.

I often start with a structure in mind, but then if the music takes me in another direction, I go with the flow and sod the guidebooks. This is the only way you will sound "organic".

Structure can sound like a very strict set of guidelines, but in fact even to the classical composers - it was not. This is a common misunderstanding.

Sonata form is only a very vague way of describing a way composers worked. It is NOT like the rules of harmony, where a perfect fifth is always an inversion of a perfect fourth. etc.

There should be only one basic rule in music:

"nothing is wrong that sounds right"

[Cody Loyd]

Well.. I think that form, in general is VERY important in music. That said, there are probably an infinite number of ways to structure a work.

Personally, I don't really believe in programmatic music, unless it is a vocal or theatre piece. Well, ok...... that isn't really the best way to put it... I think music should have some sort of form that can be discerned without knowledge of any non-musical associations that might exist. Sure, someone can write a tone poem that is based on some story, but in my opinion, it is up to the composer to be creative enough to tie it all together somehow.

Also.. form depends greatly on the style and length of the music that you are writing.. if it is just a little 2 minute solo piano piece, there isn't really toooo much room for complexities of form. If its a 30 minute tone poem.. there are billions of subtle things you can do, much more than just some sort of ABA form.

Of course this is all talking about formal music..

[Alex Dunn]

This is mainly to M.A. Wiktor. About the painting a picture idea, I thought it would be quite cool and new to imagine a piece as a the journey the eye goes on when it surveys a piece of art. What does the eye take in first? Where does it go then? Does it keep returning to the same place? For me, when I start to think like this, it feels fresh and exciting and I can see that structure can be something quite natural. Because I knew from experience that ABA and all its variations work well but I never really knew why! I also heard sonata form explained in terms of two characters who are presented, contrasted and who are made to interact. So that is more of a literary way of look at composition.

[Cody Loyd]

of course movie music is programmatic.. I guess i was lumping that into 'theatre'

I am not really a fan of movie music either though.. I enjoy and appreciate it IN MOVIES, but I know some people that listen to it all the time on its own.. It just doesn't work for me.

also.. I don't mean to say that programmatic music is bad (that is how it sounds in my first post..) It is just my opinion that sometimes form and structure are ignored for the sake of following a story, and I think that form is very important.

[Cody Loyd]

Exactly.

Of course I am not trying to say that film music isn't as good as other music.. It just serves a completely different purpose.

[Alex Dunn]

I feel that, even if the piece is through-composed and contains no repeats, there still needs to be a logic to the progressions. Otherwise you end up with something sounding a little eccentric. Some of my pieces which I wrote when I was younger sound this way, I think.

[Cody Loyd]

exactly... there is nothing wrong with 'theme and variations' for example.. such a device can give a through-composed feeling while still maintaining coherence through a piece.

[Jeremiah Pena]

I listen to a ton of movie scores. I get bored really fast with something that stays the same for too long. Movies are always changing, so the music must fit those changes. When I compose music, it's in a very programmatic style and changes a lot, usually according to some story I've come up with in my head. So I structure music to a story. But I always try to keep one or two themes that come in at times to hold the music together.

[Doug Lauber]

yngwie malmsteen: 'If it sounds good, it is good.' I had to laugh when I first read that quote, but that sums it up well- a basic truth. A percentage of listeners will react in the same way. If the structure feels right, then go with it. One way to look at structure, is to categorize the drama or energy levels. One section can represent 'terrified' and then you could follow that section with a short section which represents an emotional change to a section of 'calm, with some trepidation'. That's a nice way to build a long piece on sections that you predefine in terms of energy/drama/emotion. For the measure by measure nuts and bolts, I see structure in terms of self-imposed limits, like maintaining a repeating theme, or chord structure. Creating a structure almost always involves re-writes and I throw out less effective structural sections, and intensify the sections that work in a positive surprising way. What's Sonata Form? Is it an organic form that evolved in separate distant cultures? I guess it provides composers with a sense of security. :) Actually, I do see sectional blocks as complementary or harmonious colors. Structuring music relies on a kind of abstract thinking, which isn't used outside of the arts.

[Doug Lauber]

Yeah. I hear ya. I much prefer absolute music over program music. Program music just seems to be so much more chaotic. I need a firmer base, and/or a more solid framework. Movie music often lacks foreground elements that would compete with dialogue or sound FX etc. It work with the movie, but when you listen with your eyes closed with headphones, it lacks depth. I don't think it must be that way, but it often is.

[H. A.]

Structure is very important no matter the audience or intent of one's music. I would say that structure really is the drama of one's composition...what repeats, what's not repeated, whats varied, harmonic/melodic/rhythmic motivic use, climaxes even the opening and closing of a piece is part of the structure). When the words structure or form are used a lot of people tend to think "Sonata Allegro Form". The Sonata Allegro Form is all about the presentation of a themes with the opportunity to development the themes in creative and dramtic fashion with relation to the "Exposition" "Transition" or any other part of the piece. I always like to use Minuet and Baroque Sontat and Classical Sonata Allegro Form in teaching my composition and piano students about form, its purpose/possibilites. Of course I don't just stop at those forms but they help to open the understanding.

I also think it is important for composers to learn various compositional techniques that prevent pure repetition or constant linear music where its one theme after another, after another with no continuity and relation throughout (my personal thought)


Personally, the structure and form of much of my music tends to be cyclical in nature and then there are times when I am inspired to be a little more linear. For me there a number of things that come into play that help shape a piece and determine its form and drama. With every piece I compose I rule out harmonies, melodies, and rhythms just as much as I consider what type of harmonies, melodies and rhythms I will be using. I also consider, whether or not if I will have just one development section and if I decide on more than one how invloved will each section be and also what types of relation will each section have to the other development sections and the piece as a whole. Sometimes development sections are used to introduce new themes/ideas as well. That is always something to consider.