BASIC TERMINOLOGY FOR SWING MUSIC STRUCTURE
While thinking about the interpretation of music and musicality we came across the need to name and define some elements of this music we dance to. When we sought information about this terminology we noticed that there was some confusion and no broad consensus in this area. Even we noticed that musicians refer to some things in a different way to dancers and when we asked experts, both musicians and lindyhoppers, we could not get any unanimous answer.
This led us to decide for ourselves what we thought the best terminology would be, although we are aware that we have not been able to solve all the doubts we had.
How to refer to each component?
1) The basic element is the beat. Each yellow point on the graph corresponds to a beat. You can learn to identify the beat in the section on identifying and following the beat.
2) Beats are organized into groups. Each of these groups is called a bar. In the case of swing music, bars are made up of four beats.
3) However, as a musician, four beats (one bar) is far too short a period of time to express musical ideas. Therefore, the basic unit in swing music consists of two bars. Given that this represents eight beats, we call it an eight count . Thus, an eight count is composed of eight beats, equivalent to two bars.
4) Neither do eight countss contain complete musical ideas with a beginning and an end. We need a few eight counts to completely close a basic idea. We refer to this group of eight counts that forms a basic idea as a phrase. Many people call it section. But, as a song can have many other kind of sections (for example the introduction or an interlude) we think it is better to call this element as a phrase.
In general, in dance music, phrases are made up of four eights, as shown in the adjacent figure. In this case, each phrase contains eight bars, equivalent to 32 beats.
5) Each song usually has two or more different phrases that are repeated throughout the song in a certain order; sometimes with minor variations. In swing music this structure of the different sections in its specific order is called a chorus.
The most frequent structure of a chorus in swing music is the AABA form. This indicates that this piece has two types of phrases, A and B. These are clearly different (with a sharply contrasted melody and harmonic base). Musicians first repeat phrase A twice, then they play phrase B -breaking the monotony of the song- and then again repeat phrase A to finish the chorus. In this case, a chorus has four phrases, equivalent to 16 eight counts, 32 bars or 128 beats.
Given that even a chorus is still too short to fully express the idea, pieces of music almost always contain more than one. Therefore, the normal structure of the songs we dance to, which lasts about three minutes, usually consists of:
- introduction
- first chorus
- second chorus (which may have small variations and, if the first chorus has lyrics, this is usually instrumental)
- third chorus
- ending or outro
As you can imagine, there are many possible variations and choruses can have different lengths and organisations (eg ABABBB, ABAB ...). There may even be three or more different sections in each chorus and have a structure like AABACAABA. Click here to listen to an example; try to identify the AABBAACCD structure... Curiously this piece, as well as many others, is played in different ways, each orchestra combining sections as they please. This mean that if you hear other versions of this song they will probably have a different pattern.
This is even further complicated when many pieces incorporate preludes between the choruses in order to strengthen the link or reinforce a musical idea. There are many different kinds of preludes, but they usually consist of one or two eights in between the sections that serve as links (that's why some people also call them link sections) or to better differentiate one chorus from the next.
NOTE
Often the music that we dance to is based on a blues structure (eg Alright, Okay, You Win, Route 66, Going to Chicago, Roll Em Pete o Hey! Ba Ba Re Bop). This kind of music has a very simple structure and harmonic progression. In this case, the complete musical idea (the chorus) is usually expressed in just six eight counts (12 bars, equivalent to 48 beats). One could think that the first 6 eight counts are the first section and that the others will come after; but it turns out there are no others: these 6 eight counts express the whole musical idea (the chorus). Therefore we call it a blues chorus. In other words, the complete musical idea (the chorus) in blues music, is usually expressed in a single section and so, in these songs the chorus is equivalent to a section.
In fact, the structure of the blues chorus is so standardized that many songs that follow this pattern are identical in their harmonic base. They begin with a different note or tone and the lyrics tell a different story, but the musicians play exactly the same chord progression. This can be very clearly seen in the song Alright, Ok, You Win/Everyday I have the Blues, performed live by Barbara Morrison. These two songs have a blues chorus structure and they play them both at the same time, as if they were only one. The melody and the lyrics are different but the musicians are playing exactly the same chords all the time and in exactly the same way.
Comparing it with the choruses of the other swing structures can create some confusion. But if we understand that a chorus is not a set of prhases but a complete idea, the chorus will be longer (will have more phrases) the longer the complete musical idea you want to express. Thus the chorus has a different length and organisation in a blues chorus (usually six eight counts) than in the majority of other swing swongs (usually four phrases of four eight counts each).
Look at these videos where we have tried to point out each of the elements we have mentioned so far.
This first song has an AABA form.
Now listen to this other tune which is based on a blues structure.
Remember that these two are not the only possible structures, they are only the most common ones. If you want to deepen in the different structures of swing music, you can visit the section Recognize the structure of a song.
Musicians group beats in bars (in swing music it always is 4 beats per bar) and we dancers group beats in eights (eight beats per eight count). You can see the difference in this video:
In order to decide on the best way of referring to these aspects of music we consulted various sources, including different dancers from all over the world. We did not always find full agreement about everything and, as a result, we finally adopted the terminology we felt most accepted and consistent. You may refer to these things in another way. If this is the case, we would like to hear your opinion.