Binary

Kaii Lee had combined several piano/keyboard method books and her life long music learning books to create this sequential music theory study for this website. Throughout centuries, composers have been using forms to outline their music. The forms can be identified as Binary, Ternary, Dance Suites, Prelude and Fugue, Sonata, Rondo, Theme & Variation, and even the 12-Bar Blues. All songs use certain forms to organize the musical ideas, whether instrumental or vocal. This page is about the music form called Binary. By clicking on the other colored links at the bottom of this page, the other music theory topics can be found easily.

For more information, please contact Kaii directly: info@kafm.net

JS Bach G Major Minuet | America, the Beautiful!

The Binary Form is one of the early music forms that composers have created in the 16th century of the Western music. Binary means two portions. This type of music has Part A and Part B. These two parts are related, but not the same. Usually, the portions of music are related by melodic or rhythmic ideas, sometimes both.

In the famous Johann Sebastien Bach's "Minuet in G Major" that Bach composed for Anna Magdalena in 1725, the two portions are connected by the rhythm of "Quarter and four Eighths" pattern.

JS Bach Minuet in G Major, BWV Anhang 114, from Notebooks for Magdalena

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Another example of the use of Binary form can be found in the song "America, the Beautiful!" The music of this song was composed by Samuel A. Ward in 1883, while the lyrics was written by Katherine Lee Bates in 1895. The 1911 version of the lyrics is what we use currently.

The "Verse" portion of the song is considered Part A, and the "Chorus" portion is considered Part B, in a Binary form. This song starts with an Up-Beat; therefore, the Chorus/Part B starts on the last beat of measure 8. See the verses below.

"America, the Beautiful!" by Katherine Lee Bates and Samuel A. Ward

It could be easier for some people to read the lyrics in the following way:

1.O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

2.O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

3.O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness,
And every gain divine!

4.O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

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The next topic in this Music Theory site is all about "Ternary Form." Thank you for reading!

Music Theory that every musician could use and should know

The Basics

Math in Music

More Math and Signs

Music Forms

Time Signatures Intervals Modulations Homophonic Style

Polyphonic Style

Diatonic & Chromatic Steps Transposition Contrapuntal Techniques

Key Signatures Triads & Inversions Binary Form

Primary Triads Augmented Sixth Chords Ternary Form

Secondary Triads Traditional Compositional Tools Dance Suites

Scales Seventh Chords Contemporary Compositional Tools Prelude & Fugue

Secondary Dominant Musical Signs Sonata Form

Cadences Rondo Form

Modes Chord Progressions Musical Terms Theme & Variations

Figured Bass & Basso Continuo Serialism

For more information, please contact Ms. Lee at: info@kafm.net

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