Story and Sonata: the confluence between writing and music

Guest Post by Wil Forbis

As a writer and musician, I’ve long been interested in the structural similarities between stories and music. And I find that the process of ruminating on these similarities can provide new insights and ideas relevent to both disciplines. Much can be learned by taking a “musical” approach to writing and a “writerly” approach to music.

Let’s first consider the structure of a story. On the most basic level, a story should have a beginning, middle and an end. This corresponds with the classic three-act or three-stage story structure popular in fiction and especially movie screenwriting. (This structure is, of course, not the only option available in constructing a story, but it’s the one we’re going to examine here.) Each of these individual stages are given different names depending on who’s expounding the storytelling theory; here I’ll refer to the names used in this Wikipedia article on the three-act structure.

The three-act structure is a model used in writing and evaluating modern storytelling which divides a screenplay into three parts called the Setup, the Confrontation and the Resolution.

Star Wars is a clear example of the three-act structure. In the setup, we see the droids landing on Tatooine and are introduced to Luke Skywalker and Ben Kenobi. The death of Luke’s aunt and uncle sets him on the path of confrontation with the forces of the Empire. Ultimately, Luke and the rebel alliance triumph which leads to a resolution of the conflict (at least for that episode).

It’s also often stated that during the course of a three-act story, the main character(s) should grow and change. At the end of the story, they should not be the same people they were at the beginning.

Can we find a parallel of the three-stage narrative structure in music? Certainly we can in the Sonata form that was extremely popular during the Classical period of Western music (occurring, roughly speaking, during the 18th century). Whether you’re aware of it or not, you’ve doubtless heard many Sonatas during your life, including such popular pieces as Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik and Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata.”

The Sonata also has a three stage structure, defined as follows…

1. IntroductionIn this section, one or more musical themes are introduced. (The unit of the theme in music is sometimes hard to understand since it doesn’t have an obvious equivalent in modern popular music. In essence, it’s a melody or collection of melodies containing a defined character (e.g. sad, happy, melancholy etc.)) If two or more themes are introduced in the introduction, they are often of contrasting character. One might be happy, the other sad etc.
2. ExpositionIn this section, the previously stated themes are explored. They may be sped up, slowed down, rhythmically altered, set into a different key or otherwise expanded upon.
3. RecapitulationIn this section, some or all of the themes from the introduction reappear. They are recognizable, but usually in an altered, often encapsulated form.

As you can see (or better, hear) the three stages of the Sonata are not far removed from the three stages of the three-act story. As in a three-act narrative, the elements of a Sonata are introduced, developed, and then return in a changed form.

Now, you might be saying, “This is all well and good, but what does this really do for me as a writer?” Personally, I find that recognizing these shared elements between writing and music (and even other art forms) helps me conceptualize different ways of affecting a story through pacing, or mood, or story arc. I might intellectually understand that a story I’m working on needs more drama, but it’s not until I hear a certain electrifying piece of music that I understand, “That’s what the story really needs: that intangible flavor expressed in this music.” Music may be —- as some have called it — the most abstract of art forms, but we intuitively understand its flow, and we can learn to apply that intuitive knowledge to other art forms. In essence, by seeing the connections between writing and music, you expand the set of dramatic templates you can draw from. Now it’s not just every story you’ve ever read, but all the music you been exposed to as well.

Structure is, of course, the skeleton holding together a piece of writing or music. It’s the 30,000 feet view. Do music and writing share similarities on more atomic levels? They do, and I’ll be discussing them in the future, here.