Repetition
Think about how much repetition there is in the vast majority of songs. The melodies repeat over and over again in the verses, the choruses and, if the bridge is repeated, there as well. Think about the repetition of a hook in most songs. Some songwriters have said it’s hard not to sing the hook too many times. I don’t tend to agree with them on that issue.
Due to repetition, the listener is lulled into a sense of expectation, and if no alternative melody arises, into a state of boredom. Although repetition can and should play a crucial role in a song, always be aware that if overdone it is a detriment. It should be used to make a song memorable, as in “I can’t get this melody out of my head” and to set up the listener, so when the melody differs the listener is drawn in.
Variation
From Tunesmith, Jimmy Webb’s great book on songwriting “In melody writing variation refers to the practice of repeating, emulating or varying rhythmic and/or tonal materials within a single verse, chorus, bridge or phrase.” In Tunesmith, Leonard Bernstein comments on the variation aspect from a lecture he gave at Harvard, “What is variation anyway? It’s always in one way or another a manifestation of the mighty dramatic principle known as the Violation of Expectation. What is expected is, of course, or whatever, and when those expectations are isolated, you’ve got a variation.”
One of the best examples according to Jimmy Webb is the melody in the Beatles song, “Yesterday”. In the song the first word “Yesterday” can be compared to the last words in the line “far away”, and the line “here to stay”. All three examples use the same rhythm and an identical descending pattern in the notes, but in a different position on the scale. Jimmy also points out how the melody in the first line runs up the scale and how the rhythmic pattern is repeated in the second line only descending the scale.
Let’s give it a listen by clicking HERE.
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Jim Bruno's Songwriting Class 