Repetition

What it means

Repetition, in music, designates recurrence — both of individual notes and of larger sections. The term thus has two levels that are to be kept apart.

At the level of the individual note, repetition means striking the same note several times in a row. Note repetitions create tension, emphasis, or unrest and are a common device in accompanying figures and themes. Very fast note repetition is called tremolo.

At the level of form, repetition means the repeating of a whole section, usually indicated by repeat signs. It is a basic principle of musical form: repetition creates recognition and coherence.

On the piano the word also designates the mechanism that makes possible a fast re-striking of the same note.

In the notation

Note repetitions appear as sequences of identical notes or abbreviated by cross-strokes on the note stem. Section repeats are indicated by repeat signs: double bars with two dots, marking the beginning and end of the section to be repeated. Different endings are indicated by first and second endings.

Musical use

Repetition is fundamental in every music. In dance forms, songs, and sonata movements, section repeats are part of the form. In performance practice it is disputed whether repeats must always be played; with older music it was usual to ornament them. Note repetitions shape movement types such as the agitated style of the Baroque.

A distinction is made between fast note repetition, which demands techniques of its own on the piano, with strings, and with winds, and the repetition of whole sections, indicated by repeat signs. On the piano, the repetition mechanism of the nineteenth century made fast repetitions of the same key possible. Wind players use double or triple tonguing, string players tremolo or fast bow changes. Note repetitions create tension and unrest, for instance in the stile concitato, or brilliance in virtuoso pieces.

Performance practice

Play note repetitions evenly and clearly, without their becoming hard. Shape section repeats deliberately — a repeat need not sound identical. Clarify before the performance which repeats are played. And note, with older music, the possibility of ornamenting the repeat.