Repetition structures

[SoulRed12]

I'm not sure who does or doesn't use that term "repetition structure" to refer to what I'm thinking of, so in case I'm completely clueless about what it's really called, I'll try and explain.

By "repetition structure", I mean the traditional ABABCB flow of songs, A being a verse, B being the chorus, and C being the bridge. This is something I commonly see with songs with vocals in them.

Now obviously there are no "rules" in writing music, just guidelines. But for some reason, I tend to write my instrumental/video game music with the same or similar structure; except of course, instead of verse/chorus/bridge, it's just part a/b/c. It seems to work for me.

However, when I listen to a lot of the music here and in various video games, I tend to hear setups more like ABAC, or even just ABC. A lot of electronica doesn't even have much repetition (relative to sections of the music; of course though there's generally a lot of repetition from measure to measure).

My question to you is, what is the repetition structure you tend to use with your instrumental/video game music? Any other insights would be helpful...and useful for discussion, etc. Do you think there needs to be any sort of repetitive structure in most music?

[ZStriefel]

most music on here is instrumental. so they gotta keep it interesting to the listener.

[ZStriefel]

keep in interesting by keeping it moving instead of keeping a redundant structure*

[ProudAardvark]

You have to take into account that the piece is going to loop in the game most likely. That being the case, I usually go AB or ABAC so that it has some good variation throughout. This seems sor tof simple though, so I'm not sure that I understand your question?

[DJRAV3N]

i find the best way would be.

Trance: Hands up song:

intro something simple:midle the main melody:breakdown:Main melody:and overlay another melody on top of the main: that way you have something to look forward to in the end. think of it has a movie. you dont want to give away the end before the movie is over.

[LightKeeper]

I usually change my structure for every song. I've used a structure like ABACADAE before. It's all about preference, though it is true that most pop/vocal music will have a verse chorus structure.

[SineRider]

At 8/19/09 10:21 PM, DJRAV3N wrote: Trance: Hands up song:

intro something simple:midle the main melody:breakdown:Main melody:and overlay another melody on top of the main: that way you have something to look forward to in the end. think of it has a movie. you dont want to give away the end before the movie is over.

Every damn trance song

[InGenius]

Every genre has it's own basic structures. Electronica isn't in a Verse/Chorus structure because it is (generally speaking) based on Progressive structure, where themes repeat, but there is no true Verse or Chorus, more like Intro, Build, Crescendo, Outro, with the Build and Crescendo parts being repeatable or new Build and Crescendo sections being created in longer tracks.

Your system works more for Contemporary Pop music and any genre based on it, from Country to Pop to Rock even to Hip-Hop. The Intro/Verse/Hook/Verse/Hook/Break/Hook format is an industry standard for mainstream Club and Radio music because it gets the listener hooked into the track, gives them a repetitive rhythm to get used to, and flows well enough they hardly recognize the tedium of the music. It's a moneymaking system and it's been around for decades.

Other genres have different structures as well, from Classical and Contemporary Orchestral with "movements" and a complete lack of repeating structure, to the very same with leitmotifs or thematic passages. In alot of ways, it's these varying structure and tempos, more so than the instruments, which delineate between genres.

[SoulRed12]

This is all some great insights, thanks.

I suppose I got the ABABCB structure from my father who writes stuff with vocals. He taught me what he knew about music, but then I got into writing instrumental/ambient/etc. and I guess it all just stuck with me. Ambient and downtempo are really my favorite genres to write in, so I guess i should start looking into some different types of structures. Hehe. Anyone with some advice for a type of structure that works ambient/downtempo?