Form in music has many components and can be analyzed on many different levels. Each element can be analyzed as it relates to another element, each element can be analyzed as it applies to the whole piece, and the entire work can be analyzed in terms of how all the elements work together. In this way it is not different from any of the other disciplines that have been studied. To keep the discussion manageable for the purposes of this class the analysis is restricted to how the sections of a piece are organized. In music there are sections and/or ideas that repeat. When sections are the same they can be designated by a letter. So a typical Hymn ( Amazing Grace) would have the form A-A-A-A Each of the four verses is musically the same. If a piece includes another section that is different (Jingle Bells*) then the new section is assigned a B. A-B-A-B . . . If yet another different section exists then a C would be added and so on. Sometimes a section is very similar. It is not different enough to have its own separate designation, so it is give a prime to indicate that it is mostly the same with a slight difference - A'.

*
A - Dashing through the snow . . .
B - Jingle Bells . . .
A - A year or two ago . . .
B - Jingle Bells . . .