Lesson with Beethoven

June 23, 2007

In this lesson we're going to be examining classical form, which details the structures and 'skeletons' used extensively by composers of the classical era (Beethoven too, although he had a habit of stretching the rules a little...), including some hold-overs from the Baroque era.

We'll be going through the following forms:

Open and closed binary (this goes by other names; Wikipedia refers to it as 'simple' vs 'rounded')

Ternary

Rondo

Theme and variations

Sonata

and Concerto (in that order)

By this plan, we begin with open and closed binary. Our basic vocabulary of form is comparable to analyzing the rhyme scheme of poetry, using letters of the alphabet as new material appears. For example, if a stanza is in ABAB format, the first and third lines rhyme with eachother (A), as well as the second and fourth (B). In music, however, the letters refer to sections that are compromised of specific material. When that material appears for the first time, we label it the first available letter, A, and when a new section appears we take the next available letter and label the new material B, and so on. Sounds confusing, but it'll make sense in a moment.

Binary, just generally, is known as 'AB' form. This is to say that a piece in binary has two contrasting sections. A change in section, classically speaking, is marked frequently by a change in key signature. If the piece begins in major, a contrasting section is often in the dominant key whereas if the piece begins in minor a contrasting section is often in the parallel major.

The difference between open and closed binary is that closed binary features just a small return of the material from the A section; not enough to count as a complete recapitulation of the A section but enough to round out the piece (hence the Wikipedia terminology: 'rounded binary') whereas a piece in open binary might not even return to the tonic. This is often written as ABa (indicating a 'mini' A-section at the end).

This is probably the simplest form, and for reference I made up two very very short pieces (with the scores attached below), one illustrating open binary and one closed binary.

As a short exercise I would like you to follow the formats I gave and write a piano piece, of a length you choose but obviously the shorter the easier, that has clearly defined A and B sections; you can close the piece in closed binary with a mini A section or not, that's your choice. Don't bother trying to make them masterpieces or anything, because the emphasis is about structure versus quality (as so gloriously demonstrated by my 15-minute constructions).

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