When I started teaching general music, I knew nothing about the popular music song form. I could tell my students all about the common forms of western classical music, but I did not have any idea how to explain the form behind popular music they heard on the radio or online. I asked myself would I be doing my best at educating my students about music if I never made any connection to what they heard everyday?

But what was I to do? Where could I get this information from a reliable source? I did not understand the music theory and form behind popular music. My attempts at teaching a bit of pop history through listening was heavy on the history and social aspects of pop music, but very light in terms of examining the content of the music. To increase my understanding, I approached one of my colleagues who taught a History of Rock and Roll course. Together we complied some basic information classroom teachers could use to teach the musical analysis of popular music. Then we worked to create activities to help students learn to analyze, think critically, and be creative using popular song forms. It is our hope this article will help music teachers consider including some popular music in their curriculum.

Popular Song Elements

The basic premise of a pop song is to use basic compositional elements used together with the main purpose of keeping the listener's interest. Writers, producers, and artists do this by balancing a song's predictability with elements of surprise. The most common components they use to achieve their goal are melodic, rhythmic, and/or lyrical symmetry, repetition and rhyme, catchy melodies, sing-along choruses, and memorably strong hooks and riffs.

Of all these components, hooks and riffs are characteristics of pop music found in almost every song. They can often be confused, but generally the term hook refers to a sung vocal pattern that is repeated and helps the song be recognizable. One example from the chorus of Katy Perry's song "Roar" occurs when Perry elongates the word roar using a rhythmic vocalization on "oh" to create a very catchy hook.


"Roar" by Katy Perry (see the first occurrence at minute 1:29)

WARNING: To help educators identify musical elements, the original artist YouTube videos are provided whenever possible. Please note that the visual aspects of many of these music videos may not be appropriate for students or minors.

In contrast to hooks, riffs generally refer to repeated instrumental patterns. One of the most famous is the guitar riff that serves as the introduction to the song "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie. You may also recognize this riff from a more recent song because Vanilla Ice used it without permission as the introduction to his 1990s hit song "Ice Ice Baby.


"Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie

Popular Music Song Form

With a strong knowledge of riffs and hooks, students can recognize and break down the entire popular song using the following forms as a guideline. While there are not any absolutes, here are a few common popular music song forms.

• Verse/Chorus song form (ABACBA)
• 32 bar form (ABCA)
• Twelve-bar blues (groupings of 4s)
• Through-composed (This song type has no set form, or it has a complex form. One example is "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen.)

Of these four forms the first is widely used and is sometimes referred to as the Standard Popular Song Form or Verse/Chorus Form. It will be the focus of this article. Derived from traditional English and American folk songs, the Verse/Chorus form evolved and now usually includes the following sections.

• Introduction
• Verse
• Pre-chorus (tag)
• Chorus (refrain)
• Verse
• Pre-chorus
• Chorus
• BRIDGE
• (middle 8 measures = instrumental or vocal break)
• Verse
• Chorus
• Outro (coda)

Introduction: Varying in length and content, this section of a song sometimes contains an improvisation based on the last 4 measures of the verse. It also usually contains percussive elements that set the groove for the song. These percussive elements often contain the riff (see the "Under Pressure" example from above).

Verse: Containing lyrics that expound on the theme of the song, verses can vary in length, structure, and rhyme scheme. Often songs will have 2 verses before the chorus is introduced. One example is "Imagine" by John Lennon.


"Imagine" by John Lennon (see minute 0:14 to approximately 1:30 verse one and two back to back)

Pre-Chorus: This is a vocal or instrumental line that helps set up the chorus. Most often it is ascending in pitch. Not all songs contain a pre-Chorus; however, Ed Sheeran's "Photograph" and Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" are examples of songs that do contain a pre-chorus.


"Photograph" by Ed Sheeran (see the first occurrence at minute 0:54 to approximately 1:11 in the video below). Pre-chorus lyrics start with "We keep this love in a photograph."


"Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift (see the first occurrence at 0:29 to approximately 0:40 in the video below) Pre-chorus lyrics start with "But I keep cruising, can't stop won't stop moving."

Chorus: This is traditionally a section of the song that occurs more than once with the same melody and lyrics. Historically, it has been vocal and at the heart of the song often showcasing the best parts of a song's melody and/or the hook of the song. One example of a strong chorus is in the song "Chandelier" by Sia (Beaumont-Thomas, 2014). This song also features a pre-chorus.


"Chandelier" by Sia (see minute 0:33 to approximately 0:40 for the pre-chorus) Pre-chorus lyrics start with "One, two, three, one, two, three drink...." (see 0:44 to approximately 1:50 for the chorus) Chorus lyrics start with "I'm gonna swing from the chandelier"

It should be noted that some current songwriters and producers are changing the role of the chorus in pop music. There is a current trend to push the boundaries of the chorus such as in "Problem" by Ariana Grande, which has a strong vocal pre-chorus. The actual chorus is a catchy whisper by Big Sean combined with the even-catchier saxophone riff. Some other chorus trends include having a guest artist sing the chorus like in "Fancy" by Iggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX (caution explicit lyrics). Also, recently some songs do not start with the verse, but the chorus like in R. City's "Locked Away" featuring Adam Levine singing the chorus.


"Problem" by Ariana Grande featuring Iggy Azalea (see 0:30 to approximately 0:40 for the pre-chorus) Pre-chorus lyrics start with "Head in the clouds..." (see 0:40 to approximately 1:03 for the chorus) Chorus lyrics start with Big Sean whispering "I got one less problem without ya"

Bridge: Often the bridge is the section of the popular song that serves as the break or variation from the rest of the song. It serves as a wake up call for the listener. It usually lasts around 8 measures and can be instrumental or vocal. One instrumental bridge example is in Michael Jackson's iconic pop song "Beat It" where Eddie Van Halen plays an over the top guitar solo. This guitar solo serves as the musical backdrop in the video for the fight between the gangs.


"Beat It" by Michael Jackson (see approximately 3:10 to 3:40)

Bridges can also be vocal such as in Bruno Mars' song "When I Was Your Man." The bridge starts with the lyrics "although it hurts I will be the first to say I was wrong."


"When I Was Your Man" by Bruno Mars (see 0:48 to 1:01)

Outro: The outro is the conclusion of the song. It can be new material in the form of a traditional coda like in "More Than Words" by Extreme or "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay (Weir, 2014).


"More than Words" by Extreme (Starting at 3:30)


"Viva La Vida" (Starting at 3:43)

Or the outro can be a fade out or ad lib. This happens when either the chorus or an instrumental pattern becomes increasingly softer until it disappears or the DJ turns the volume to zero. The fade out works best with recorded music. Conversely, if the artist(s) is playing live instead of a fade out, they will usually ad lib an ending to fit the music venue. At one time the fade out was the most common outro, but in the last few years it has decreased in popularity and is rarely used today. Some examples of songs containing fadeouts are:


"A Day in the Life" by The Beatles


"Hey Jude" by The Beatles


"Smooth" by Santana featuring Rob Thomas

Student Activities

Once students are familiar with the characteristics and common elements of popular music, they can begin to recognize and label them in songs. One possible activity meeting the Kansas Music Respond Standard is to assign students to identify a riff or hook in a song they hear outside of school. This can really motivate students and actively engage them in music outside of the classroom. It can also, however, lead to students bringing in music that has content considered inappropriate or offensive to some students, parents, and/or administrators. This is one of the biggest potential risks in teaching popular music.

Another variation on the Respond Standard activity is to provide students with a few songs in class rather than having them bring their own. As a class or in small groups they can listen to the songs you selected to identify hooks and riffs. For listening activities, I typically use YouTube videos as my source. I recommend that students use the videos for audio only. Even muting the visual part of the video many YouTube links often contain ads and other content that is not predictable; so I recommend using a free online website like SafeShare safeshare.tv to create an ad free link.

From my experience, the best expert on what to do in your classroom is you. As the teacher, you know your students, your parents, and your school policies. It might be wise to talk to your administrators before beginning a lesson or unit on popular music. You may also want to use a parental permission letter such as the one below to let parents know what content you will cover and gain their permission to have their child exposed to the material.

In this article, we have made an attempt to provide you music examples (not video examples) that are largely appropriate for students. However, you should always vet any material you plan to play for your students. If you plan to obtain parental permission, it also a good idea to include a list of songs you will cover as well as informing parents how you plan to use the material in class. A sample parent letter is provided below containing a list of many of the examples provided in this article.

Permission Slip Example modified from Teach With Movies Students can also use their knowledge of popular song forms to identify the components in various songs, which also meets the Respond Standard. Some good examples of songs that follow the form fairly closely are "Imagine" by John Lennon and "You Were Meant for Me" by Jewel. For more of a challenge, you can also have students identify the form of these songs: "American Pie" by Don McLean or "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" by Billy Joel.

To deepen students' knowledge, you can have them compose their own hook or riff for a song, which meets the Create Standard. Using a program like Adobe Audition you can take a song such as "Bad to the Bone" or "Wild Thing" and edit out the hook or riff. Next students can work to fill in the blank space with musical ideas that are sung or played on instruments. This is easier said than done, but some suggestions are listed below.

To start, it is essential to have students correctly count the beats needed for the hook/riff. Having students work in small groups can help students who struggle and offer advanced students a chance to lead and/or teach others. As a first step, offer the small group a chance to imagine or improvise short patterns by playing the song several times with the hook or riff removed (Create Standard Process 1 [CR1]).

Then they can move to CR2 planning and making or notating their riff/hook using formal or informal notation. Some tips for students to follow when composing are: 1) Keep it Simple, 2) Make it Catchy and Accessible, 3) If composing a song, try to summarize the song in a word or a few words. Next each group can practice their riff/hook then evaluate and refine CR3. Finally, each group can perform CR4 their riff/hook for the entire class or for other classes. Below is a sample rubric, students or you as the teacher can use to evaluate the composed riffs/hooks.

Rubric for Creating a Riff

Criteria	Exceeds	Meets	Does Not Meet
1. Keep it simple	The simple riff (hook) was short, easy to remember, and especially effective.	The simple riff (hook) was short and easy to remember.	The riff (hook) was not short and/or not easy to remember.
2. Instantly playable/singable	The students created a riff (hook) that not only provided audience participation and was accessible to everyone, but also the riff (hook) was especially engaging/memorable.	The students created a riff (hook) that was invited audience participation and was accessible to everyone.	The riff (hook) did not invite audience participation and/or was not accessible to everyone.
3. Hook	Students correctly identified the hook and creatively used the hook in their performance.	Students correctly identified and effectively performed the hook.	The hook was not correctly identified and/or performed.

In conclusion, popular music is all around us. A lesson or a unit dedicated to popular music forms presents an opportunity for you and your students to explore and collaborate on music you both hear everyday. Working together the options of what you can achieve are really only confined to your imagination and the imagination of your students.

References