What does form mean in music?
Music can be examined and recognized from different angles. One of these angles deals with the pattern and description of the piece of music and more precisely expresses the form of music.
What does form mean in music?
In music theory, form refers to the structure of a piece of music. The word “form” means form or shape. Form in a piece of music tries to describe that piece by breaking it down into parts.
In music, form is placed against content, and every piece of music has a pattern that accommodates the content of the work. Every musical form is a collection of parts that are linked together in relation to the whole of the work. During different periods of Western classical music, various forms have emerged.
The concept of form and appearance of a work
In other words, every work of art has a plan, template, or pattern that the artist places the content of his work inside. In fact, the form (in the sense of the shape and appearance of a work) is placed against the content (that is, the materials arranged in a special order within the form).
Every work of art is a collection of pieces, each of which has a special connection to the other, as well as to the whole work.
Whenever we talk about form in music, depending on what is meant by form in music, more or less different meanings come out of it. In examining the discussion of form, it should be said that music is not a collection of sounds piled on top of each other, but consists of regular and purposeful factors that have precise and subtle and sometimes hidden relationships with each other and pursue a special goal with each other’s help. that is, each of them takes a share in bringing the music closer to the composer’s goal.
In this sense, the form is so intertwined and inseparable with the music itself that one cannot really be recognized without the presence of the other. Even in a simple musical sentence, rhythm factors, rhythm pattern, intervals, pitch relationships of sounds, texture, and in a word form, all can be felt together.
Form is generally used in arts with two different meanings:
1- Accepted format for expression, for example: ghazal in Persian poetry or sonata in European music
2- The structural qualities in a work of art, for example: the harmonious fit of different parts and the order of their components in order to create tension and climax.
The form, which can be called the same format, has almost the same concept in all branches of conceptual art. The frame in which the artist creates his work is called the form of that work.
As mentioned above, form in music is known in exactly two senses and sometimes it is used in a general sense. But the form in the special view of music deals with three special categories. These three elements can be expanded in other arts as well.
Those three elements are as follows:
1- Repetition
2- Diversity
3- unity
These three important elements complement each other and each of them has a special place in a musical work.
