The Guardian published an interesting article on why repetition in music – and pretty much everywhere else – is so popular with us humans.

“If you say a phrase – a collection of words – over and over again it starts to become simply a collection of sounds rather than “meaning” anything.”

“Everything from Pachelbel’s Canon, with its hypnotically repeated bass line, to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, made and propelled by the manipulation of a repeated four-note cell, to the vast majority of songs ever written, with their carousels of verses and choruses, are made to work with the pleasure centres of musical repetition that seem to exist in our brains.”

“Patterns of repetition aren’t just musical techniques for composers to play with. They’re invitations for listeners to participate.”

Read the full article at TheGuardian.com