Section 12.1 Verse-Chorus Form
The Verse-Chorus form is arguably the most common musical form of present day popular music and is probably familiar to most readers of this text. In Verse-Chorus form, the chorus contains the “hook”—the memorable refrain—while the verse typically contains less memorable melodic material. A clear example can be found in the 1985 song “We Are the World.”
| 0:00–0:26 | Introduction, 6 bars |
| 0:26–0:53 | Verse 1, 8 bars |
| 0:53–1:18 | Verse 2, 8 bars |
| 1:18–1:49 | Chorus, 9 bars |
| 1:49–2:14 | Verse 3, 8 bars |
| 2:14–2:41 | Chorus, 8 bars |
| 2:41–3:08 | Bridge, 8 bars |
| 3:08–3:35 | Chorus, 8 bars |
| 3:35–4:02 | Chorus, 8 bars ending with key change |
| 4:02–end | Chorus, 7 times in F major with fade out |
Common additions to the Verse-Chorus form, beside the bridge, are the pre-chorus and post-chorus.
| 0:00–0:25 | Introduction, 12 bars |
| 0:25–0:42 | Verse 1, 8 bars |
| 0:42–0:58 | Pre-chorus, 8 bars |
| 0:58–1:23 | Chorus, 12 bars |
| 1:23–1:31 | Post-chorus, 4 bars |
| 1:31–1:39 | Interlude, 4 bars |
| 1:39–1:56 | Verse 2, 8 bars |
| 1:56–2:12 | Pre-chorus, 8 bars |
| 2:12–2:37 | Chorus, 12 bars |
| 2:37–2:45 | Post-chorus, 4 bars |
| 2:45–3:02 | Guitar solo, 8 bars |
| 3:02–3:10 | Interlude, 4 bars |
| 3:10–3:26 | Verse 3, 8 bars |
| 3:26–3:42 | Pre-chorus, 8 bars |
| 3:42–4:37 | Chorus, 21 bars |
It is worth noting that there may disagreement about labeling sections in a form. One person may call a section a “pre-chorus,” another may call it a “first chorus,” while another may call it “verse part b.” There is ambiguity in naming sections and disagreement is to be expected.
There are “simple” and “contrasting” verse-chorus forms. A simple verse-chorus form has the same harmonic progression for the verse and chorus (e.g., “All About That Bass 1 ”). The chord progressions for the verse and chorus are different in a contrasting verse-chorus form like “We Are the World.”
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