Form in Popular Music

This lesson is part of the Rhythm, Meter & Form category.

Objectives

• Students will be familiar with components of popular song form including verse, chorus, prechorus, bridge, intro and outro.
• Students will be familiar with common popular song forms and their variants.
• Students will be able to analyze the form of a popular song,

Resources

Readings

• Covach, “Form in Rock Music: A Primer”

• Hutchinson, Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom:
  • Chapter 12: Form in Popular Music

• Shaffer, Wharton (eds.), Open Music Theory:
  • Pop/Rock Form: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

• Peres, Top 40 Theory:
  • “Don't Bore Us, but Don't Rush to the Chorus”
  • “The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey — ‘Closer’: Crafting the Chorus”
  • “Everything You Need to Know About the Postchorus”
  • “About that Chorus in Bed Rexha’s ‘I’m a Mess’”
  • “A Sonic Twist in the Plot: The Bridge in Modern Pop”
  • “The PostChorus-Bridge Switcheroo”
  • “Recycling the Chorus in Zedd & Elley Duhé’s ‘Happy Now’”
  • “The Internal Sonic Progression in Bebe Rexha’s “I’m a Mess’”
  • “Sonic Meta-Progressions in Pop Songs”
• Music Theory Online:
  • de Clercq, "Embracing Ambiguity in the Analysis of Form in Pop/Rock Music, 1982–1991"
  • Richards, "Tonal Ambiguity in Popular Music's Axis Progressions"
• SMT-V:
  • Barna, "The Dance Chorus in Recent Top-40 Music"
  • Lavengood, "'Oops!... I Did It Again': The Complement Chorus in Britney Spears, The Backstreet Boys, and *NSYNC"

Class Activities

• Discussion and definition of popular form components (verse, chorus, bridge, etc.)
• Discussion and definition of different popular song forms
• Analysis of various popular songs

Assignments

Files

• Formal Analysis: "Jumper" by Third Eye Blind (Word | Pages | PDF)
• Formal Analysis: "Unfinished" by Barenaked Ladies (Word | Pages | PDF)