Chorus

What it means

Chorus has two meanings in popular music and jazz, which must be kept apart.

In song form, chorus designates the refrain: that recurring part which sounds several times with the same text and the same melody and stands between the verses. It is as a rule the catchiest part of the song. The verses, by contrast, tell the story with changing text.

In jazz, chorus designates a complete pass through the form of a piece — for instance the thirty-two bars of a standard or the twelve bars of a blues. A performance consists of several such passes: first the theme is played, then follow improvised choruses by the soloists, and at the end the theme returns. “Playing a chorus” therefore means improvising once over the whole form.

The term is to be distinguished from the German “Chor” (choir), which designates a group of singers and goes back to the same root.

In the notation

In a song setting, the refrain is often notated only once and provided with repeat signs. In jazz, the form usually appears as a lead sheet with melody and chord symbols; the number of choruses is not notated but agreed.

Musical use

The distinction between verse and refrain has long shaped popular music. In jazz the chorus is the basic unit of ensemble playing and improvisation; the form is run through again and again while the soloists change.

In a 32-bar standard in AABA form, one chorus comprises all four eight-bar sections; in the blues it is twelve bars. Soloists often play several choruses in a row. In swing and bebop the theme is usually followed by several solo choruses before the theme returns at the end.

Performance practice

Know the form exactly before you improvise — getting lost in the chorus is the most common mistake. Count the bars along or orient yourself by the chord changes. Agree beforehand how many choruses each person plays. And shape a chorus as a whole with build-up and goal, not as a sequence of individual ideas.