Form is the way that parts, or sections, of a song or piece of music are put together. If you were asked to draw circles, squares and triangles on paper, you'd have to decide on the order, or pattern, of those shapes.

In music, we use sections like verses and refrains instead of using shapes. A song can have several verses (with different sets of words), but usually only one refrain that gets repeated throughout the song, like "Spaceworms" from last year's 1st Grade Outer Space Show.

It is up to the composer to decide what the order of verses, refrains and other sections will be for a song or piece of music. Here is our slide presentation and YouTube link for another school's performance of the song!

Our next song with verses and refrains is an American folk song called, "Lone Star Trail". Here is a slide presentation and YouTube link for this song!

We have learned about form as the way that sections are put together, such as verses and refrains. Here is a piece of instrumental music in which the sections are known as themes.

Here is the entire recording of "Buckaroo Holiday" by Aaron Copland:

Our next folk song comes from Puerto Rico. We are learning it in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, which is celebrated from September 15th through October 15th. The song's title is "El Coqui". The refrain of this song helps to capture the sound that the coqui, or tree frog, makes. Here is a video of the coqui in its natural habitat.

Here are the lyrics and a YouTube video of another school singing

"El Coqui"!