Strophic form

A song structure in which successive stanzas use the same music, typically with different lyrics. Repetition of the musical setting gives each stanza a shared melodic and harmonic shape.

Stanza: A grouped set of poetic lines, often forming one unit of a song's lyrics. Each stanza receives the same musical setting in strophic form.
Hymn: A song of praise or devotion, commonly used in religious worship. Strophic settings let congregations sing successive hymn stanzas to familiar music.
Binary form: A musical form organized into two contrasting sections, commonly labeled A and B. Its two-section design differs from repeating one musical setting for each stanza.
Troubadour: A poet-composer who created and performed lyric songs in medieval Occitania. Troubadour songs often joined successive poetic stanzas to recurring musical material.
Verse: A section of song lyrics, often set to a recurring musical passage. In popular usage, a verse commonly supplies the changing text in a strophic song.
Refrain: A line or group of lines repeated at intervals in a poem or song. A refrain can recur within strophic songs, reinforcing words as the stanzas change.
Folk song: A song transmitted and reshaped through oral or community traditions. Repeated music makes new or remembered verses easy to sing to a shared tune.
Ternary form: A musical form with three sections, commonly arranged A–B–A. Its return of an opening section is a larger pattern than stanza-by-stanza musical repetition.
Minnesang: A medieval German tradition of lyric song, especially songs about courtly love. Its stanzaic poetry and recurring melodies provide historical examples of strophic song.
Melody: A sequence of musical pitches perceived as a coherent tune. The recurring melody is one of the most audible features of strophic form.

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