Why we love repetition in music - Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis

Translator: Nika Kotnik Reviewer: Matej Divjak

How many times does the chorus repeat in your favorite song?

Kolikokrat se ponovi refren v vaši najljubši pesmi?

And, take a moment to think, how many times have you listened to it?

In, pomislite za trenutek, kolikokrat ste jo poslušali?

Chances are you've heard that chorus repeated dozens, if not hundreds, of times,

Možno je, da ste slišali refren nekaj ducatkrat, če ne stokrat,

and it's not just popular songs in the West that repeat a lot.

in niso samo popularne pesmi z Zahoda tiste z veliko ponovitvami.

Repetition is a feature that music from cultures around the world tends to share.

Ponavljanje je lastnost v glasbi, ki si jo deli veliko svetovnih kultur.

So, why does music rely so heavily on repetition?

Torej, zakaj se glasba tako zelo zanaša na ponavljanje?

One part of the answer come from what psychologists call the mere-exposure effect.

Del odgovora pride iz tega,

čemur psihologi pravijo učinek naključne izpostavljenosti.

In short, people tend to prefer things they've been exposed to before.

Na kratko, ljudje imajo rajši stvari, ki so jim bili že izpostavljeni.

Na primer, pesem slišimo na radiju in nam ni preveč všeč,

For example, a song comes on the radio that we don't particularly like,

a potem jo spet slišimo v trgovini,

but then we hear the song at the grocery store, at the movie theater

v kinu in spet na ulici.

and again on the street corner.

Soon, we are tapping to the beat, singing the words,

Kmalu migamo v ritmu, pojemo besedilo,

even downloading the track.

celo naložimo pesem z interneta.

This mere-exposure effect doesn't just work for songs.

Ta učinek naključne izpostavljenosti ne deluje samo pri pesmih.

Deluje na vsem, od oblik do oglasov za Super Bowl.

It also works for everything from shapes to Super Bowl ads.

So, what makes repetition so uniquely prevalent in music?

Torej, zakaj je ponavljanje tako unikatno pogosto v glasbi?

V raziskavi so psihologi prosili ljudi, naj poslušajo glasbene kompozicije,

To investigate, psychologists asked people to listen to musical compositions

that avoided exact repetition.

ki so se izogibale natančnim ponovitvam.

They heard excerpts from these pieces in either their original form,

Poslušali so dele teh pesmi ali v njihovi izvirni obliki,

or in a version that had been digitally altered to include repetition.

ali pa v digitalno obdelani obliki, ki je vsebovala ponovitve.

Although the original versions had been composed by

Čeprav so izvirne različice napisali

some of the most respected 20th century composers,

nekateri izmed najboljših skladateljev iz 20. stoletja,

and the repetitive versions had been assembled by brute force audio editing,

in so ponavljajoče se verzije naredili na grob način z glasbenim programom,

people rated the repetitive versions as more enjoyable, more interesting

so ljudje označili ponavljajoče verzije kot boljše, bolj zanimive

and more likely to have been composed by a human artist.

in da so bolj verjetno delo človeka.

Musical repetition is deeply compelling.

Glasbeno ponavljanje je zelo privlačno.

Think about the Muppets classic, "Mahna Mahna."

Pomislite na klasiko Muppetkov, "Mahna Mahna".

If you've heard it before,

Če ste jo že slišali,

it's almost impossible after I sing, "Mahna mahna,"

je praktično nemogoče, da ne bi, ko zapojem "Mahna mahna,"

not to respond, "Do doo do do do."

ne odgovorili z "Do doo do do do."

Repetition connects each bit of music

Ponavljanje povezuje vsak del glasbe

irresistibly to the next bit of music that follows it.

neustavljivo z naslednjim delcem glasbe, ki sledi.

Ko torej slišite nekaj not, si že predstavljate, kaj sledi.

So when you hear a few notes, you're already imagining what's coming next.

Vaš um podzavestno poje zraven

Your mind is unconsciously singing along,

and without noticing, you might start humming out loud.

in ne da bi opazili, lahko začnete na glas mrmrati.

Recent studies have shown that when people hear a segment of music repeated,

Novejše študije so pokazale, da ko ljudje slišijo ponovljen glasben odsek,

they are more likely to move or tap along to it.

je bolj verjetno, da bodo zraven migali ali bobnali s prsti.

Repetition invites us into music as imagined participants,

Ponavljanje nas povabi h glasbi kot navidezne udeležence,

rather than as passive listeners.

ne pa kot pasivne poslušalce.

Raziskave so prav tako pokazale,

Research has also shown

that listeners shift their attention across musical repetitions,

da poslušalci premaknejo pozornost med glasbenimi ponovitvami

focusing on different aspects of the sound on each new listen.

in se osredotočajo na različne vidike zvoka z vsakim novim poslušanjem.

You might notice the melody of a phrase the first time,

Morda prvič opazite melodijo fraze,

but when it's repeated, your attention shifts to how the guitarist bends a pitch.

a ko se ponovi, opazite, kako kitarist ukrivi ton.

This also occurs in language, with something called semantic satiation.

To se zgodi tudi pri jeziku, čemur pravimo pomenska zgostitev.

Ponavljanje besede, kot je atlas "ad nauseam"-do slabosti,

Repeating a word like atlas ad nauseam

can make you stop thinking about what the word means,

povzroči, da pozabite na pomen besede

in se osredotočite na zvoke: na čuden način, kako "L" sledi "T".

and instead focus on the sounds: the odd way the "L" follows the "T."

Na ta način, nam ponavljanje odpre nove svetove zvoka,

In this way, repetition can open up new worlds of sound

not accessible on first hearing.

nedostopne ob prvem poslušanju.

The "L" following the "T" might not be aesthetically relevant to "atlas,"

Kako "L" sledi "T" morda ni estetsko pomembno pri besedi "atlas",

a kako kitarist ukrivi ton, je lahko ključnega izraznega pomena.

but the guitarist pitch bending might be of critical expressive importance.

The speech to song illusion captures how simply

Iluzija govora v pesem pokaže, kako preprosto

repeating a sentence a number of times shifts listeners attention

večkratno ponavljanje stavka premakne poslušalčevo pozornost

to the pitch and temporal aspects of the sound,

na ton in časovni vidik zvoka,

so that the repeated spoken language

tako da ponavljajoč govorjeni jezik

actually begins to sound like it is being sung.

pravzaprav začne zveneti kot pesem.

Podoben učinek se zgodi z naključnimi sekvencami zvoka.

A similar effect happens with random sequences of sound.

People will rate random sequences they've heard on repeated loop

Ljudje so ocenili naključne sekvence, ki se ponavljajo,

as more musical than a random sequence they've only heard once.

kot bolj muzikalične od naključnih sekvenc, ki so jih slišali enkrat.

Repetition gives rise to a kind of orientation to sound

Ponavljanje nam omogoči, da se orientiramo v zvoku,

that we think of as distinctively musical, where we're listening along with the sound,

ki ga imamo za izrazito muzikaličnega, kjer poslušamo hkrati z zvokom

in smo namišljeno vpleteni v noto, ki sledi.

engaging imaginatively with the note about to happen.

This mode of listening ties in with our susceptibility to musical ear worms,

Ta vrsta poslušanja je povezana z našo dovzetnostjo za "ušesne črve",

kjer se del glasbe zakoplje v naš um

where segments of music burrow into our head,

and play again and again, as if stuck on repeat.

in igra spet in spet, kot če bi se zataknila plošča.

Critics are often embarrassed by music's repetitiveness,

Kritike je pogosto sram ponavljanja v glasbi,

finding it childish or regressive,

zdi se jim otročje ali regresivno,

but repetition, far from an embarrassment, is actually a key feature

a ponavljanje je daleč od sramotnega, pravzaprav je ključni del,

that gives rise to the kind of experience we think about as musical.

ki ustvari izkušnjo, ki jo imamo za muzikalično.