AABA Types in Rock/Pop Music

ABSTRACT This article presents a methodology for understanding large‐scale form in rock/pop music, focusing on the much‐discussed AABA form. Though previous authors on rock/pop form differ on what situations should be classified as AABA, this article argues that there are four essential patterns with which AABA songs might engage: AA–BA–BA, AAB–AB–(A), AA–B–A and AA–B/A. These four types are differentiated by their highest‐level manifestation of form, whereby the A and B sections are grouped into distinct patterns. Building on previous research, the analysis focuses on the surface‐level aspects that generate these larger patterns, which encompass harmony, melody, texture, dynamics, lyrics and clock time. The structure and function of the B section is particularly crucial in articulating each pattern. In presenting a wider notion of what might constitute B music, I explain how different options for constructing a B section can produce distinct trajectories within the larger umbrella of the given AABA type. Additionally, this methodology exploits the concepts of formal functionality and rotational form to illuminate the dynamic relations within AABA forms, demonstrating how the tonal layout of a B section affects its grouping potential and how larger cycles that reference the thematic components of the A sections can occur in the latter portions of certain AABA types.