Join Julian Velard for an in-depth discussion in this video AABA 32-bar form, part of Music Theory for Songwriters: The Fundamentals.
- Thirty-two-bar form, or AABA form,…was the dominant form of popular music…in the first half of the 20th century,…the collection of songs born out of Tin Pan Alley.…The 32-bar form consists of an eight-bar phrase…followed by an eight-bar repetition or slight variation…followed by an eight-bar section known as the release…or bridge, not to be confused with the bridge in the…verse chorus form, although it serves a similar function,…followed by an eight-bar repetition…of the first phrase again.…
Famous examples of this form from that time period are…George and Ira Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm"…and "The Man I Love,"…Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's "My Funny Valentine"…and "Blue Moon,"…Frank Loesser and Hoagy Carmichael's "Heart and Soul,"…and Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg's "Over the Rainbow."…There are also famous variations of the 32-bar form.…Most of the great songs of Cole Porter,…"Night and Day," "I Get a Kick out of You,"…and "Begin the Beguine" to name a few,…are extensions of this form going much longer…than 32 bars.…
Author
Julian Velard
Released
9/18/2015Professional musician Julian Velard starts the course with the building blocks of harmony: notes, scales, intervals, chords, inversions, and basic chord progressions. He then goes into voice leading—showing how to move from one chord to another by changing just one or two notes—and reviews common song forms, from the familiar verse/chorus/verse of pop to the simple verse of the blues. At the end of each chapter, Julian explains the songwriting techniques shown in the chapter within the context of his own original commercially released songs.
- Understanding scales, intervals, and keys
- Triads or three-note chords
- Triad inversions
- Common major-scale chord progressions and cadences
- Voice leading
- Song form elements such as verse, chorus, bridge, hook, and more
- Using common song forms in songwriting
Skill Level Beginner
Duration
Views
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Introduction
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Welcome1m 31s
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1. The Building Blocks of Harmony
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The octave4m 12s
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Intervals: Major and perfect7m 20s
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The concept of key3m 12s
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Figuring out intervals6m 33s
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2. Triads and Chord Progressions
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Triads: The basics of chords7m 48s
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Triad inversions6m 40s
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Voicing6m 38s
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Authentic cadences5m 32s
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3. Chord Progressions and Voice Leading
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What is voice leading?5m 28s
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The suspended chord5m 11s
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4. Song Forms
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The importance of song form2m 34s
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Beats, bars, and phrases5m 54s
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The chorus song form element1m 23s
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Verse/chorus/bridge forms1m 19s
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Simple verse form2m 2s
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Verse without chorus form1m 18s
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AABA 32-bar form1m 24s
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Through-composed song forms1m 26s
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Looking at a song's form5m 53s
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Conclusion
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Next steps1m 16s
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Video: AABA 32-bar form