A Baroque minuet consists of two sections; each comes to a complete stop and is immediately repeated (|: a :||: b :|). See page 132. Minuets tend to come in pairs, alternating in an A B A pattern. The second dance, B, is called the trio, because in early days it was often played by only three instruments.

As a whole, a Baroque minuet movement can be diagrammed as follows. (Remember that |: :| means repeat, and that in the second A the parts are usually not repeated.)

Classical composers extended the internal form of minuets (and trios) by developing internal a b a structures according to one of the following schemes:

Prime marks (a′ and c′) indicate changes or extensions to the original a and c sections. Classical dance form is sometimes called ternary form, acknowledging its a b a′ order.