I'd rather be eating chocolate, but...

Let's talk about the architecture of music. 
It's super interesting, and I'm sure you'll agree.
UNITY is, basically, the repetition of material: themes, melodies, harmonies, dynamic structures...  etc.
VARIETY is the opposite.  It's mixing things up by changing the existing material or adding new material. 
And the balance of those two in music is what makes it good.  If you have too much unity, it gets boring, but if you have too much variety then there isn't continuity in the music.
Now, let's talk about musical structures:
People use these terms in reference to the grammatical sentence, with which I'm very familiar...  So I'll use that as well.  We'll use this sentence as an example:
       The quick, brown fox jumped over the log.
CADENCE- this is the punctuation at the end of the sentence, the period.  it's a pause in the melodic line, ends the musical idea definitely.
PHRASE- this is the smallest unit with a cohesive musical idea (aka the whole sentence) which ends in the musical punctuation (the cadence).
PERIOD - now here's where this term might confuse you... period isn't punctuation!  (that's a cadence, folks) A period is two phrases (aka sentences) joined to make one unit, aka a compound sentence!
DOUBLE PERIOD- (not ..  just a hint!!) this is four phrases joined to make one unit (with one complete cadence... there are two types of cadences - full/complete and semi...  semi gives a feeling that more is to come, full gives a sense of completeness)
3-PHRASE-GROUP (not to be confused with a 3-part-song)- a single melody, made up of three phrases (a a' b, a b b, a b c)
Now that we get what the structure is, we'll get on to forms of songs.  (I realize this isn't exciting AT ALL... and I completely understand if you never read my blog again)
FORMS:
     binary - this has two major sections, like a verse and chorus, each ending with a complete cadence (A-A, A-B)
     ternary (or return form) has three major sections, each ending in a complete cadence... the last is usually a repetition of one of the other ones.
expanded ternary - okay so there are three types of expanded ternanry, and in this expanded ternary( which is like a three movement work) there are more sections than just A-B-A, there'll be lots of subsctions, like A (aabbaaba) the expansions can be:
*sonata-allegro
*rondo
*song & trio
forms.
next we get to the 3-PART-SONG.  This has three parts... no joke.  a verse, chorus and bridge (A, B, C) three separate melodies.
VARIATION: alteration of melody, harmony, rhythm, mode, tonality, texture, or medium
                  types:
                       *theme & variation - melody followed by a series of sectinoal variations
                              *passacaglia- bass line melody serves as the basis of a set of polyphonic, continuous variations
                                     *chaconne- harmonic (chord) progression serves as the basis
HARMONY- the simultaneous combination of tones
*most compositions are recognized by their themes (or melodies) and themes and melodies help you become aware of their structure or sectional plan
change from...                                                                 change in....
slow to fast                                                                        tempo
soft to loud                                                                          dynamics
polyphonic to monophonic to homophonic                          texture
diatonic to whole to tone to chromatic                                    scale
sustained to repeated notes                                                  rhythm
chords                                                                                 harmony
major to minor                                                                      mode
octave                                                                                register
winds to strings                                                             color, timbre, medium
3 to 4 bpm                                                                              meter
F maj to G maj                                                         key, tonality
arpeggios to blocked chords                                     accompaniment style
Now's the fun part, STYLIZED DANCE MUSIC!!
this is compound structures, and those compound structures are:
concerto - for full orchestra and soloists
symphony - for full orchestra
serenade- for full orchestra of strings
quartet- for 4 solo instruments
sonata- solo instrument
and ALLL of those follow the sonata plan!!! I'll outline it for you :) (so kind, I know)
-a sonata has 3 to 4 movements
     I- allegro tempo, usually in the form of theme & variation
     II- the slowest, in a contrasting key
     opt III almost always in Song & Trio form if there are four movements, but if there aren't four movements, this'll be the one to go!
     IV- last is the fastest!
BUT a solo concerto has 3 movements.
The Suite belongs to the Baroque and Modern periods, so it's kind of Maroque of Bardern...  :) 
Here are the most common Baroque dance forms
allemande- Germany
courante - France
sarabande- Spain
Gigue- England
The classical symphony developed in part from the suite.
and I'm outta time!