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I'd like to learn the names of the different parts of modern music. I know there are verse and chorus, solo parts where only a certain instrument or the vocal can be heard, but what are the rest?

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    Ok, you've asked essentially the same question about "modern song," which I deny is a category, and "classical composition," which is uselessly vague. Please consider reading some introductory music theory books before posting.
    – Carl Witthoft
    Nov 17, 2014 at 20:11
  • Related question: Song structure whats up with verse chorus verse 2 chorus verse 3 bridge chorus
    – Caleb Hines
    Nov 18, 2014 at 0:21
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    Another related question: Common names for sections of a piece of music
    – Caleb Hines
    Nov 18, 2014 at 0:23
  • If you want to Google some stuff, look up "song structure." Some specific structures you might be interested in are "verse chorus structure" for rock, pop, alternative, and country music, "drop and breakdown" for electronic dance music, "sonata" for a lot of classical music, and "A B form" for a lot of styles of orchestral music, including marches and traditional folk music.
    – Kevin
    Nov 18, 2014 at 3:38

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I don't pretend that this classification is absolute truth and applicable to any modern composition, but still.

Majority of the modern songs have:

  • intro
  • verses
  • choruses
  • bridge (1 or more)
  • outro

Intro in many senses is like a prologue in a literature. Outro is like an epilogue. Solos usually go into bridges. Maybe this will give you an inspiration. :)

And now forget everything that i've said: creativity in many cases is about stepping out of canon.

P.S. If you are interested in composition styles consider composing styles that are somewhere between classical and modern.

I personally like symphonic (power) metal and symphonic rock a lot. One of the reasons is exactly that two very different styles meet and excellent synergy emerges. Nightwish is a good example because it's composer and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen got boring classical music education while he became interested in metal (Metallica, particularly).

For example, consider Nightwish's "The Poet And The Pendulum" and "Song Of Myself". It has several "parts". It's hard to classify each "part" as chorus, verse, etc. Also they are very different. They are a kind of "subsongs". In many senses this mimics composition of literary work. Some people like this approach, some - don't, but it definitely has right to exist and worth considering.

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  • What is this bridge we're talking about? How does it differ from the other parts?
    – user1306322
    Nov 17, 2014 at 20:10
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    Well, bridge is like a bridge. :) It smoothly carries listener from one mood / substory / point/thesis / you_come_up_to_it_as_a_composer to another. Maybe this will give you an inspiration. ;) Also consider that two examples by Nightwish that use "parts".
    – yaromir
    Nov 17, 2014 at 20:32
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    A bridge is a contrasting section of music. It's usually not directly related (musically) to anything that came before or after. It provides a sort of breath of fresh air, so that the music doesn't get stale. It may be in a different key, or use a chord progression that's not been heard so far. It also provides an opportunity to take the lyrics in a different direction. It also tends to make the 3rd verse or chorus sound more like the welcome return of something that was missing, rather than a stale repetition.
    – Caleb Hines
    Nov 18, 2014 at 0:53

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