“The same song on a different day
was a different song.”
Do you have songs that you play over and over? Do you have a special playlist on repeat while driving or working?
David Huron, a distinguished professor of music at Ohio State University, estimates that 90% of the time you spend listening to music, you hear passages you have listened to before. iTunes and Spotify are also great at revealing how frequently we listen to our favorite songs; and why some songs get stuck in our heads and loop repeatedly.
The conclusion: Repetition is a startlingly and dominant feature of music.
Professor Huron also did a study on music using lab mice. In this study, he would play a single note (B) for mice to see how long it would take until they became used to it. Then play another note (C) before going back to the original note (B). While it was the same note he’d played before; the mice became aware of it once again.
He repeated this until he had a formula - a musical phrase that would grab their attention. The actual result became a pattern for the mice that you play, and it goes B-B-C-B-C-D. This phrase was consistent and kept the comfort of familiarity in place. The formula: Variation coupled with repetition.
Variation plays a massive part in music.
Derek Thompson, author of “Hitmakers: How to Succeed in an Age of Distraction,” explains that this specific combination of repetition and variation creates the hook that makes pop music so catchy.
That hook is: Verse-Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Bridge (B-B-C-B-C-D)
Take the letter “B,” and you replace it with the word “verse,” and you take the letter “C” and you replace it with the word “chorus,” and you take the letter “D” and you replace it with the word “bridge.” You have the following song structure: verse-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge, which is essentially the most common pop song structure of the 20th century.
Repetition, he says, is the deepest part of music, but the thing that distinguishes music is repetition and variety combined.
Music is also tied to our emotions and feelings, and the songs you are listening to over and over might help you get through a rough time, or celebrate!
Major and Minor Keys
A song written in a major key can make you feel even more “up.” For example, the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams is in G# major. Songs written in a minor key result in a darker sound amplifying more profound or sad emotions. For example, the song “Turning Tables” by Adele is in the key Cm minor.
Conclusion? Variation and repetition, as well as what song a key is in, help you listen to them forever. Over and over again!