Everything about Aaba Form totally explained
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's 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):
The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
The Beatles' "I Will" (1968)
Compound AABA form is the combination of an 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:
Boston's "More Than a Feeling" (1976)
Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (1964)
Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" (1969)
Tom Petty's "Refugee" (1979) » (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.Further Information
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