Structure
Introduction
Structure explains how a piece is designed or constructed in sections using the other concepts of music.
Planning the structure of music is like drawing a house plan or designing the plot for a whole book.
Structure explains how a piece is designed or constructed using the other concepts of music.
Structure is obvious when one section of music is repeated in the one piece of music, for example the chorus of a song or an instrumental section.
Music that does not use repetition is called through-composed.
Suggested activities
Teaching notes
Cross-curricular connections
In drama, structure is the framework through which the content of the drama is presented. Structural elements such as narrative and plot can shape or order the nature of how the dramatic message is communicated.
Motifs are like building blocks that recur in different settings, patterns and combinations.
Motifs in literature and films include ideas, objects, symbols and concepts that repeat themselves throughout the text. For example, a love heart that keeps appearing in the background of a film is a motif that reinforces love and compassion.
Motifs in music are small musical ideas that reappear through a piece of music, and may be joined with other motifs or developed and modified. In artworks, music and dance, a motif is developed over time to represent the artist's conceptual intentions.
Formative assessment
Engagement with the concept of structure can be observed and assessed through activities that encourage students to:
work in groups to improvise/compose using a visual stimulus
create different sections of music in order to produce music of a given structure
describe the structure of a song using musical terms.
Syllabus outcomes
The student:
demonstrates an understanding of musical concepts through exploring, experimenting, improvising, organising, arranging and composing (4.4)
demonstrates an understanding of the musical concepts through listening, observing, responding, discriminating, analysing, discussing and recording musical ideas (4.7)
demonstrates an understanding of musical concepts through aural identification and discussion of the features of a range of repertoire (4.8)
demonstrates musical literacy through the use of notation, terminology, and the reading and interpreting of scores used in the music selected for study (4.9).
Music 7-10 Syllabus © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2003, accessed 04/04/22.