Circularity
A Circular song is a song written in such a way that the beginning of the song is disguised and just sounds like a continuation of the end of the song. This obscures the beginning and end of a song when you play it with repetition, so you can’t actually tell where it ends and where it begins.
This can happen because of the
- Melody: the opening phrase of the composition sounds like a continuation of the ending phrase;
- Harmony: the opening chord continues a progression begun at the end of the song; and
- Form: irregular bar numbers create the illusion that the beginning of the song is part of the end of the song.
Traditional Jazz songs generally include a turnaround at the end of the song to make it clear that the song has ended and that you’re about to repeat the song. A typical turnaround could just be a iii-VI-ii-V. Such a turnaround is often hear at the end of a 12 Bar Blues, before going back to the beginning of the form.
So Circular progressions intentionally avoid this kind of turnaround.
Circular Songs
Let’s take the following chord progression and melody:
Now, notice that both the melody and chords flow smoothly, with the melody repeating a phrase (or motif) but transposed a few notes higher, and the chords largely moving down in 5ths.
Now, what if I told you that this is actually a fragment of Miles Davis’ Blue in Green (written by Bill Evans, actually) from the Kind of Blue Album, and the final bar is actually the Dm7 in bar 3, and the first bar is actually Gm7 (in bar 4).
Blue in Green is probably one of the best known Circular songs. And the reason it’s circular is because:
- Form: It’s a 10-bar form (rather than 12). We hear bars in multiples of 4, so a 10 bar form sounds unfinished.
- Harmony:
- Bar 1 chord = G minor
- Bar 9 & 10 chord = Am7 | Dm7
- So the harmony just continues going down in 5ths (Circle Progression)
- Melody: continues with repetition
Another way to make a circular song is with the overall form of the song. A standard Jazz song form is a 32 bar AABA form. Horace Silver’s Song for My Father is actually a 24 bar AAB form. So the first A section of the repeat sounds like the final A section of the prior run through.
Have a Listen to
- Nefertiti ~ Wayne Shorter
- Blue in Green ~ Bill Evans
- Song for My Father ~ Horace Silver