By Theresa Preece 1

Teaching Musical Form

Form: the structure or architecture of a piece of music.

Tell your students that the form of a piece of music is just a description or
list of the main sections of the music.

Various musical forms:

Rondo “ABACA”

Verse Refrain “AB”

ABA

Ballad

Call & Response

ABC

Theme & Variation

Use the MUSICAL FORM FLASH CARDS I created to illustrate the various
musical forms. They are in an Easter theme to go along with the book in
this lesson.

Have students cut out their form cards and then write the correct form
names on the back of their cards & their name on the blank name card.

Then have students run yarn through the pre-punched holes and tie in
place to make a flip book of form flash/ note cards.
 By Theresa Preece 2

There Was An Old Lady Who swallowed A Chick!

Story by Lucille Colandro

Read the above titled book to the class.

Ask your students if they recognize the book’s form.

Then let them know that the correct form for this book is Rondo form
(ABACA) and explain why.

The book starts out with form

A) “There was an old lady who swallowed ___…I don’t know why she
swallowed that chick but she didn’t get sick.”
B) She swallowed the ___ to…”
A) “There was an old lady who swallowed ___... I don’t know why she
swallowed that chick but she didn’t get sick.”
C) She swallowed the __ to ___ … She swallowed the ___ to ___ ….”
(each time it builds on and gets longer so it does not go back to “B”)
A) “There was an old lady who swallowed ___... I don’t know why she
swallowed that chick but she didn’t get sick.”
*and so on*

Other Rondo Form Examples FYI:

A B A C A D A - Kodály, Viennese Musical Clock

A B A C A D A - (BCDA) Beethoven, Violin Sonata, No. 4, op. 23, finale

A B A C A D A B' A Mozart, Sonata K. 281, finale

A B C A D A - (A) Haydn, Trio in G ma, finale, "Rondo all' Ongarese"

A B A B' A - (trans and new) Mozart, Sonata, K. 457, finale

A-B-A-C-A (Five-Part Song Form

 By Theresa Preece 3

Mozart’s Example
Play Mozart’s Rondo for the class:

A B A C D A E A B' - (A) Mozart, Rondo, K. 494

MUSIC SHEET

While children are listening to the musical composition, have them color the Mozart’s
Coloring page.

Movement Activity
Have four different sets of flashcards pre-made. Put your students in four teams and
have them put a rondo together by making noises through movements or with
instruments (depending on the group).

*You could also “compose” the rondo on the board instead of using flash cards.

Have the students (as a class) incorporate different body movements/ instrument
playing with each section like this:

A. Clapping
B. Triangles/Bells
C. Stomping
D. Maracas/Shakers

Have the four different teams assigned movement during their section. Everyone is
frozen until his or her part is played.

ABACADA…