Music Composition DUMmIES

theme in a piece of music, either immediately after the first time it’s played,

or somewhere later on in the song.

Figure 7-4 shows what it looks like if you repeated the melody immediately

after the first time it’s played.

In Figure 7-5, we employ repetition again, this time adding a few additional

phrases, sticking them in between the repeated parts.

Another way to employ repetition is to have multiple instruments take turns

playing the same phrase. You could give the music in Figure 7-6 to one instru-

ment and that in Figure 7-7 to another, and the result would be a “round” kind

of effect.

&b 4

4

œ

̇ œ# œ œ œ

œ œ ̇#. œœ

̇ Ó ∑ ∑

Figure 7-6:

Instrument

number

one could

play this

melody...

&b 4

4

œ

̇ œ# œ œ œ

œ œ ̇#. œœ

œ œ œ Œ œ œ œ Œ

&b œ œ œ

œ# œ

̇ œ# œ œ œ

œ œ w#

Figure 7-5:
You can vary
your use of
repetition by
adding other
phrases
to it as you
repeat.

&b 4

4

œ

̇ œ# œ œœ

œ œ w# œ

̇ œ# œ œ œ

œ œ w#

Figure 7-4:

Repeating a

melodic

phrase

reinforces

it in the

listener’s

mind.

Chapter 7: Building Melodies Using Motifs and Phrases 73