[Music] Hi everyone, this is Ben Dunnit from www.mmusic theoryacademy.com. In this session, we're going to have a look at the structure called theme and variations. Now, theme and variations is a very common structure you'll come across particularly uh in romantic uh music. And the theme and variations involves the following. Firstly, the composer will write a theme. Now, this is usually um a catchy melody. Um it could be eight bars long, it could be 16 bars long, it could last for 30 seconds, it could last 45 seconds. It varies. Um but the theme is you could almost play it as a complete mini piece of music. Once the the theme has been played, then the composer changes it in some way. So, it's played again, but it's altered. And this becomes the variation number one. When you've played variation number one, then you move on to variation two where again the theme is changed in some way. You can continue this process through variation three, variation four, variation five. You will get, you know, you could have 14 variations, 20 variations, as many as the composer uh wants to write. But the key principle is that in some way you will be able to tell that they are all variations of the original theme of the original like little mini piece of music. Um how does the composer uh provide these variations? There are a number of different tools that composers can use. First of all, they could change the melody in some way. Add notes, take notes away, um add trills or other ornamentations. Um they could write the variation in a different key. They may write the theme in in a major key and then decide to write the first variation in in the relative minor. They may change the time signature. The first theme could be in 44. Um the variation might be in three four. Um also they could change the rhythm in some way. They could put different chords um underneath the melody or in some way change the texture or the instrumentation. There are a number of different ways that a composer um can vary the original theme. I think the best way to to get your heads around this is to have a listen to an example. Um, it's an example of a piece of music that I've written. It's a theme and variations uh for the piano. Um, and what I've done is I've just um highlighted where the theme is and where the variations are and how each um variation uh is created. [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] So, I hope uh you were able to follow that video clearly. Um key things to remember about theme and variations. There's some little mini piece of music, the theme written at the start and then it's varied in some way. Um there can be any number of different variations and a number of different ways in which um it can be varied. You'll often find it in music from the romantic period um but not exclusively. Um, and it's a great uh structure to try if you're composing your own music because it will really push you onto uh a new level of musicianship. I hope you found that lesson helpful. To get more lessons, go to www.mmusic theoryacademy.com. [Music]