by Mark Simos
This principle holds true whether working bottom up or top down, and at every hierarchical level of structure in the song. A structure can be fulfilled in any sequence during composition. For example, to properly set up a lyric title, hook, or refrain line, we often think backward in the flow of the song, working like detectives from the last line to earlier lines, or from the chorus to the first verse. And often, the first verse we actually write winds up not the first verse of the finished song.
Fulfilling: Structure into Motives
Unfolding is a bottom-up, exploratory, incremental style of structuring activity. We can also work in a top-down, structure-first way. Like an architect planning a building, you conceive a song or section’s overall form or architecture, then fill in the pieces. Once you’ve architected your song plan or structural map, you fulfill that structure—either by generating new material, or by selecting from existing seeds and motives. (The latter process may feel more like stitching a quilt together than architecture.)
You may believe working from a structural plan in this top-down way will confine your creative work. But we always write to a structure of some sort; the choice is whether we choose our structures with informed artistic intent. If we don’t, we fall back on a small repertoire of comfortable forms that tend to make our songs sound similar, and may or may not suit the song’s content. This way of working also limits our ability to experiment and innovate with new forms.
Example: Fulfilling a Structure in All Facets
In the following extended example, we’ll fulfill a structural pattern with independent attempts in all facets, using the simple pattern aaba involving just two contrasting motives.
Here’s an aaba structure in melodic phrases:
FIG. 8.2. An aaba Structure Expressed in a Melodic Phrase
Note that the a pattern is repeated most directly in the melodic rhythm. Pitches are subjected to various melodic transformations: sequence, intervallic augmentation, etc. The b motive contrasts with, yet is audibly similar to, the a motive in both contour and melodic rhythm.
Here’s the aaba pattern expressed in, or fulfilled by, a chord progression. Note that this is an independent attempt, not a harmonization of the first example:
FIG. 8.3. Fulfilling an aaba Motivic Structure in a Chord Progression
In figure 8.3, the chordal motives are short sequences of chords: a = A– E– C G, b = D– F E7. As with the melody example in figure 8.2, the repetitions of a are not exact. Here, the variations are created by rhythmic placement of the chords, with a kind of retrograde or mirroring of harmonic rhythm in the first four bars, and an even more dramatic displacement in the final a. The a and b “chord motives” contrast strongly, both in terms of the chords used and in harmonic rhythm. Thus, the aaba phrase pattern is still clearly audible.
In these first two examples we see the notion of a motive extended to apply to a melodic phrase or a chord sequence. Rhythmic aspects are interwoven into each. We can also fulfill the aaba pattern directly with a rhythmic phrase, possibly to be set later to material in other facets:
FIG. 8.4. Rhythmic Phrase Fulfilling an aaba Pattern
In figure 8.4, both repetition and contrast seem exacting, yet with a few quirks that make a less straightforward mapping of motivic units in rhythm to metric structure. Is the trailing eighth note at the end of bar 2 part of the second a, hence a variation? Or is it the start of the b motive? Similarly, the tied note at the end of bar 3 sounds like part of the b motive—until it’s revealed as an anticipated first note of the final a repetition. These ambiguities suggest a key aspect of structure: motivic units can be ambiguous, emergent, elided, or overlapping, and in the “ear of the be-hearer.”
We’ll now fulfill the aaba pattern in lyric. Structural patterns are familiar to songwriters and listeners in the context of lyrics, especially rhyme schemes:
I’m talkin’ to my friendly neighbors
a
I’m restin’ from my weary labors
a
Lazy summer day
b
Grillin’ dogs down at the river
a
This shows another potent aspect of structure. Familiar, expected structures play a shaping role in making other connections audible. Neighbors and labors is perfect rhyme, easy to hear. Neighbors/labors and river is a looser rhyme connection, involving subtractive (losing the “s”), assonance, and consonance rhyme (“ay” vs. “ih”) effects. But the expected fulfillment of an aaba pattern invites the ear to catch the looser rhyme, even when distanced by the intervening unrhymed line.
Besides (or independent from) its rhyme scheme, the verse also expresses (or fulfills) the aaba pattern in line length. Heard in terms of the number of stressed syllables in the line, the section has the pattern 4434— also an aaba pattern, now expressed in lyric rhythm. In this case, rhyme scheme and line-length scheme coincide and reinforce the same aaba pattern. That need not be the case:
Talkin’ to my friendly neighbors
4
Restin’ from my weary labors
4
Love these lazy days of summer
4
Grillin’ dogs down at the river
4
Here, the third line is now set to the same line length (four stresses) as the others, and the aaba effect expressed only by rhyme scheme, not line length. Here, the choice of “summer” works against us; we no longer have enough sonic contrast between the a and b line-end sounds. “Summer” is an even looser rhyme to “labors” than “river,” but the regular line-length rhythm lulls the ear into hearing it as a semi-rhyme, creating an undulating aaa"a' rhyme scheme effect rather than the desired aaba. This illustrates a central principle in all work with structure: Make similar elements sufficiently similar, and contrasting elements sufficiently contrastive, to fulfill the pattern at the desired degree of intensity vs. subtlety.
Putting It All Together
That aaba pattern, though clearly audible in each case, isn’t fulfilled strictly in any facet. There are minor variations in a repetitions and connections between a and b motives. In each facet, subsidiary patterns can be expressed or suggested. When you put all the elements together, other connections and resonances emerge.
Here, to finish, is one possible way of putting together some of our separate aaba explorations. Since these were generated independently, rather than in response to each other, combining them is a bit of a “crapshoot.” There’s no particular reason they should fit together thematically. Still, sometimes chance collisions create interesting effects.
FIG. 8.5. Structure Expressed in Multiple Facets
In figure 8.5, we see material from the melody and lyric experiments, rearranged and integrated into a single-section passage. The chords, instead of mirroring the aaba structure, create a single narrative arc with a descending bass-line/chord cliché. Though not intended to be striking or original, it does create interest with non-chord tone relations against the melody in a few spots.
Note that lyric lines were rearranged in this version. You can revise and rework any structure consisting of a sequence of units by changing the sequence—a process skill we can compare to a kind of juggling.
Exercise 8.4. Juggle Phrases in a Section
Start with a short section in a given structure: e.g., aaba. We’ll demonstrate with a lyric section; you can try it with material in any facet. Work through different orderings or sequences (formally, permutations) of the lines, placing them into different structural configurations. (This works best if each line is a separate “thought phrase.”) Reflect on the effects of each structure; pick the best and know why. Generating such alternatives is particularly useful when matching to material in other facets. Your best choice may depend on these interactions. Here are just a few of the 24 (that is, 4 factorial or 4!: 4 x 3 x 2 x 1) ways we can arrange the four lines of our earlier example lyric.
Each sequence reveals connections and parallels, both sonic and semantic, between lines we might no
t have seen before. The first version feels grounded, ending with a line of sense description, and conversational, with a tight rhyme couplet followed by a very loose one. The second puts the most reflective “thought and feeling” line at the end, and shifts the rhyme scheme to stagger the close rhyme in the middle couplet. The last version transforms the second by simply swapping the lines of the first couplet. This creates a satisfying abab rhyme scheme, reinforcing the loose rhyme. The surprise here? These rewrites and revisions create rich resonance in imagery, narrative, theme, and emotion. Yet, they are arrived at primarily through simply messing about with the structure.
Counterpoint in Motivic Structure
In the “Melody/Harmony Connections” chapter, we examined relationships between vocal melody and various “melodic” aspects of the chord progression in the song, in terms of the four canonical voice-leading relationships of traditional counterpoint: parallel and similar motion, oblique motion, and contrary motion. Here, we extend this analogy to counterpoint one step further—as a way to characterize effects of various interactions of different motivic structures, expressed in elements both within and across facets.
Counterpoint within Facets
Each facet has multiple internal elements. Lyrics, for example, involve rhyme scheme, line-length scheme, and phrasing, among other elements. In a given lyric section, each such element can express distinct patterns that carry their own effects. These patterns can be worked with independently, and taken together, can create either aligned or contrasting patterns.
We can recognize different kinds of “contrapuntal” effects between
these patterns, treating each element as a “voice.” Each voice’s “melody” is its respective pattern of motivic repetition and contrast. The listener’s ear can discern when these patterns or “motivic melodies” move in similar or independent ways, even though the patterns are expressed with different elements. We discuss these in order of increasing skill level required, using rhyme scheme and line length in lyric as our working example of the elements “in counterpoint” within a facet.
Parallel and Similar Motivic Motion
Working independently and simultaneously with differing patterns requires a high degree of skill. Thus, by far, the most natural tendency in writing is to move patterns together. The more improvisationally based and “composite” your writing process, the more likely you’ll use structures in this parallel way.
Admittedly, there’s no exact correlation between melodic pitch and the varying qualitative ways different motivic elements can repeat or contrast. Since elements such as rhyme and metric length are qualitatively quite different, the distinction between “parallel” and “similar” motion may appear less salient here. (Or perhaps this extended analogy with traditional counterpoint is only a similarity—not a parallel.)
We can, however, distinguish degrees of closeness in a match. An abab rhyme scheme moves “in parallel” with a 4343 pattern in line length; an xaxa rhyme scheme can be heard as a looser match, not parallel but still similar. Relative degrees of contrast in elements of each pattern, and closeness of the match across the patterns, offer a range of subtly differing effects.
Parallel or similar effects support unity and integrity in the section, but also risk making the structure too heavy-handed and obvious when not employed with care. The general principle is: Stating a given structure in multiple song elements intensifies that structural effect—for good or ill.
Oblique Motivic Motion
Oblique motion is activity in one voice, quiescence in the other. What does this mean in motivic terms? What’s the motivic analogue of a melodic voice “staying still”? Patterns do not always draw the listener’s attention. Here, two contrasting structural options have the effect of moving a given element to the relative background of attention. The first is simple repetition: when every line ends with the same sound or is of the same length, we stop listening for changes, and accept the texture as backdrop. With no repetition at all, our ears stop listening for repetition or pattern to emerge, and eventually “zone out” or accept the “through-composed” texture.
Oblique motion, in motivic terms, can be an effective texture for spotlighting the “moving” pattern against the backdrop of the element carrying less structure. However, both repetition and through-composed or “chaotic” structure carry their own meaning and emotion. Thus they can distract rather than spotlight, if used as “filler” rather than with intent.
Contrary Motivic Motion
It’s also possible to superimpose or layer different patterns at the same time—a kind of independent or “contrary” motivic motion with the potential to create intriguing and subtle effects. Working with these fully “contrapuntal” motivic effects can require considerable skill, given the relative complexity of each individual pattern and their interactions. Where parallel/similar or oblique textures tend to spotlight an entire pattern to varying degrees, contrapuntal (contrary motion) patterns create spotlighting effects on specific points in the structure. These spotlight points come at points of “deceptive resolution”—where expectation of parallel motion is created, then not fulfilled. (Fulfilling such a “non-fulfilling” structure is tricky work indeed—but quite fulfilling if you can pull it off!)
For example, if we set an abab rhyme scheme against a 4344 (thus, in effect, abaa) line-length scheme, the surprise or “shearing point” comes on the last stress of the last line, where a three-stress line was expected but an extra stress provided. Here, occurring at the last line of the section, the shearing point reinforces sectional form and closure as well. In working with contrary-motion or “counterpointing” motivic structure, care must be exercised that the resulting texture isn’t too muddy and confusing to the ear.
The following exercise is an aid to creating contrapuntal relationships in structure, first within, then across facets:
Exercise 8.5. Contrapuntal Strategies in a Lyric Section
Take a short lyric section (say, four lines). Working with the two structural elements of rhyme scheme and line length, create three versions of the section: with similar, oblique, and contrasting/contrary relationships respectively between the elements. In the example versions below, the line length indicated reflects the number of stressed syllables in the line. The + symbols indicate unstressed syllables at the start or end of the line.
In the example, each variant retains the aaba (or aaxa) rhyme scheme. In the first variant, the line-length scheme, basically 4434, is also an aaba structure, thus creating a similar or parallel effect with the rhyme scheme. That makes the third line contrast strongly with the other lines, by both rhyme sound and line length. In the second variant, line length is uniform, creating constant motion and moving line length as an element of attention to the background: oblique motion that spotlights the rhyme scheme. Finally, the third variant creates true “counterpoint” or contrary movement between the aaba rhyme scheme and the 3434 or abab line-length scheme. This contrapuntal relation creates spotlights where the two patterns diverge. For example, at the end of the second line, “labors” surprises by rhyming but arriving later than expected. In these examples, the presence or absence of upbeat syllables in each line is yet another subsidiary element that carries structure. In the last version, this element creates a third contrasting pattern, aabb.
You can do this exercise the other way round: holding the line-length pattern constant while changing rhyme scheme. You can also extend the exercise to other facets.
Counterpoint Across Facets
Let’s extend our exploration of contrapuntal relations to structural relationships across facets, with an example between the facets of melody and chords. To be clear, we’re still focusing on counterpoint of motivic structure. This is tricky when melody and harmony are our example facets, since traditional counterpoint deals with melody and also takes harmonic relations into account. In the chapter on melody/harmony connections, we applied this view of counterpoint in a songwriting context, treatin
g vocal melody as one melodic line, the chord progression as a whole as another “line.” Now, we look at motivic structure reflected in vocal melody and chords. In figure 8.6, an abab melodic phrase structure is combined with an aaab pattern in the chord progression.
FIG. 8.6. Contrasting Motivic Structure in Melody and Chord Progression
The chords resolve into repeating two-chord motives: C A– and D B7,
suggesting an aaab pattern. This is set against melodic motives (of the same length, one measure) forming an abab pattern. The first “pull” or “tug” between
patterns comes in measure 2, while a “convergence” of the patterns occurs in measure 4. (Note that rhythmic aspects of both melody and harmony are uniform, hence parallel here.) What happens if we “thin” the chord progression a bit?
FIG. 8.7. Thinning Chord Progression Changes Motivic Structure
Now, in figure 8.7, motivic structure in the chords is less obvious. Has aaab shifted to aa'ab (hearing the C chord in measure 2 as the repetition, the following A– as the variation) or abac (hearing C A– as a unit, and a new idea, contrasting with D B7)? Here, a simplifying move has increased asymmetry
and rhythmic interest in the chord progression, and overall contrapuntal interest in its relation to the melody. Harmonic rhythm now plays a role in how we hear the structure, though it’s obscured a bit by the notation: the C chord restated on beat 1 of measure 2 is a continuation chord (/); the D chord on beat 1 of measure 4 is a change (X). The apparent motivic match hides a rhythmic asymmetry between measures 2 and 4. A third structural pattern, abac, is thus created by the harmonic rhythm. This is shown in figure 8.8, mapped at a half-measure pace (X: chord change, : continuation):