Commonly the refrain is in the last line of the verse, but it doesn’t need to be. However, a refrain is not the chorus section from the verse-chorus song form that we all know and love.Ī refrain is part of a verse that is repeated from verse to verse. Refrain lines can be sung by multiple voices, and using older terminology it is a chorus, in the sense that it can be performed by multiple voices, but can also be sung by a solo voice. The second main use of the name “chorus” is the modern understanding of the section of a song called “a chorus”, which may or may not be sung by multiple voices. In classical music the massed voices in opera, or massed voices accompanying an orchestra in any setting, is still termed “the chorus”. “Chorus” originally derives from the notion of “multiple-voices” singing a particular section of the song, while the name “chorus” is used for music sections where multiple voices sang together. Some confusion exists, partly due to changes in terminology over the years, and partly due to one word meaning different things in different contexts, such as what the word means in the context of genre, location and what that word means to different groups of people. It should be noted that the meaning of some terms such as “verse” and “chorus” has changed over the years. Songs with a different melody and chord progression for each stanza, in other words there are no repeated sections (called ‘through composed form’), are far less common in western popular music.

Thinking of song form helps song writers retain an overview of songs and how the sections of music that make up the song are organized.ĭerived song forms are often based upon strophic form (AAA song form), 32-bar form (AABA song form), verse-chorus form (AB song form) and 12-bar blues form (AAB song form). The letters then create a map of the overall song, or the song architecture of the key feature of that type of song. When using a song form, letters are assigned to the different sections of a song, where repeated section types are assigned the same letter as was assigned on the first occurrence of that section type. Song Form describes the structure of songs in an easy to understand framework. Popular music is generally based on the use of traditional sectional song forms, or song structures that are derived from those traditional song forms. Most modern songs are generally made up of a number of song sections that may or may not be repeated within the same song. Song forms describe the architecture of a song.

Country song bar in house