March
A functional genre shaped by the pace of walking, with clear accents and square phrases
Related
A march is a functional genre: its beat fits the pace of walking, usually in 2/4 or 4/4, with clear accents and square phrases, often scored with drums and wind band. It serves armies, ceremonies, parades, weddings and funerals, and the occasion decides its tempo and character.
The typical shape is a binary or ternary form with an introduction; the trio often moves to the subdominant before the opening returns. Marches also enter art music — the funeral march in Beethoven's Third Symphony, Chopin's Funeral March, Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance — and operatic or symphonic marches often carry irony or mourning.
A common misconception treats the march as background music for walking, or equates it with military band music. A march can stand alone in the concert hall and can carry triumph, grief or satire; and not every piece in 2/4 is a march — the sense of step and function still decides.
Sources
- 进行曲的步伐节拍、曲式与在艺术音乐中的用法，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "March"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.