A songwriter thinks about riffs and refrains
By Catherine Viner
Guitar in hand, I am pondering my next steps. Writing songs has always been a relatively easy task for me, but this time I am stuck. Should I repeat the same phrase in the refrain or not? Am I too repetitive? Would this appear boring or redundant? I have been a songwriter for about ten years and in total have written about 250 tunes. The challenge is always the same: how to keep my songs fresh, unique, and engaging. This often comes down to repetition.
In his book, Play it Again Sam, British music scholar Richard Middleton notes about repetition “…’it’s monotonous’; ‘it’s all the same’; ‘it’s predictable.” This predictability is essential in understanding the way repetition works within not only music but society. He states that “…repetition is simply a fundamental characteristic of all cultural production under contemporary capitalism…”. There are two sides of repetition, as exemplified in language which can have, on one hand, immense complexity and on the other hand be quite redundant and simple. Similarly, repetition in music can be varied or straightforward. Repetition is what allows us to apprehend and understand songs, including their style and genre. Repetition is essential to musical syntax, which is “unusually predictable”. The analysis of this predictability in a song structure can help determine what a composer is attempting to convey for example by creating expectations and then either fulfilling or not fulfilling them. Making sense of repetition in a syntactic way helps us to understand how productive repetition can actually be.
To that end, Middleton distinguishes between “musematic” repetition and “discursive” repetition. A museme is “a small, syntactic unit” such as a riff of lick. This type of repetition is normally unvaried and recurring, like an underlying beat. Discursive repetition, by contrast, is “the repetition of longer units, at the level of the phrase, the sentence or even the complete section.” This can be mixed with various types of units. Terhi Nurmesjärvi, a musicologist from the University of Jyväskylä, explains that the pair of musematic and discursive repetition enable analysis “…on both macro and micro levels of a song’s structure.” Analyzing the interplay of these two types of repetition, as well as the role they play in the structure, can help determine whether or not repetition is effective. He notes that “[u]nits of discursive repetition can be argued to be more informative because of their linearity and processual character, which is usually realized by the melodic line combined with verbal lyrics.” Musematic repetition, by contrast, ” is not informative […] because it includes a great number of repetitions of the unit. It is quite obvious that the more repetitions there are, the less attention is paid to what is repeated, and the less information is delivered.”
I’m back at the guitar, now making pivotal decisions. There’s an innate pressure on songwriters when crafting this particular piece to create something memorable. In my most recent song Head Over Heels, released late November, I wrestled with the element of repetition in the chorus. The chorus is what sticks with people after they listen to a song because it is typically repeated (and it also tends to contain the song’s memorable “hook” which is meant to replay the song in our heads). Now after looking back on the choices I made, I can see the clear distinction that explains the type of repetition I used.
I begin to play the chorus with a simple strumming pattern. It produced the sound I hoped for, but something is missing. There is no urgency, no drive. My goal for this song is to render excitement, yet I didn’t feel that. I am stuck once more. Should I add a riff that reflects the thrill of the message? Trying out different strumming patterns that might shake up the chorus, I end up adding an extra “stir” at end of the strumming pattern. The riff now alternates between a regular strum and a stir that doubles the strumming for a moment. The resulting intensity creates a sense of restlessness. This repetition is a driving force that pushes the song forward. This guitar riff is an example of musematic repetition.
I have a melody and I have a strumming pattern. It is musically expressive, but also indicative of the question I want to raise in the chorus—which is of course where the message of the song becomes clear. It’s my chance to convey what I’m truly feeling of being ‘head over heels.’ I want audiences to know that this feeling is so strong it might seem fake. Maybe I’ll just ask this. I think about it for a moment and then land on the question of ‘is this real?’ However, is asking the question only once enough? I repeat the phrase and this time it satisfies my needs. Along with the repetition, I add an ad lib in the background that echoes the question. In the end, I ask the question a total of four times to make it just “nagging” enough. This an example of discursive repetition.
Once I am done, I wonder: is the repetition I use in Head Over Heels redundant or effective? Middleton has helped me to grasp what I did. Discovering the nature of repetition and the differentiation between the types aided my comprehension of effectiveness. It’s circumstantial and dependent, but if used correctly can greatly contribute to a song. Repetition has the potential to demonstrate a composer’s feelings and message. I understand this now after reflecting on my own songwriting process. In addition, I can appreciate my own decisions of repetition because they coincide with scholar’s theories of effectiveness.
Middleton explores the effectiveness of repetition by stating that music has “self-reflexive character”. Repetition is a tool that can makes a song self-aware. When listeners understand that songwriters are intentional about sometimes very detailed choices, knowing different types of repetition can provide access to a deeper understanding. One should also consider the context of the repetition. Middleton brings attention to the fact that it may just be a “substitute for the subject”. Context matters.
The discursive repetition I use in Head Over Heels is informative. Asking the central question multiple times relays the excitement of the song. Including a stir with a musematic guitar riff is also effective. Although not informative like the repetition of the question, it adds to pushing the song forward. It creates the urgency I wanted to portray. Now that I’ve analyzed the repetition in Head Over Heels I feel as though I succeeded in correctly utilizing musematic and discursive techniques. I’ve created something that I view is effective. Whether or not you agree, let’s keep in mind that, according to Middleton, an important aspect of effective repetition is pleasure. So I hope you had fun listening!