Structure

Structure refers to the idea of design or form in music. In organising sound the concepts of duration, dynamics, pitch and tone colour are combined in some way for a particular purpose.

Structure relates to the ways in which music sounds the same (or similar) and/or different.

Students should be able to manipulate and discuss the following aspects of structure as relevant to the music studied:

• phrases

• motifs

• repetitive patterns (eg riffs, ostinati, ground bass)

• techniques of call and response/question and answer

• traditional and non-traditional patterns of musical structure

• structures used in single pieces of music (eg song form, da capo aria)

• multi-movement structures (eg symphony).