Estimated reading time 5 minutes
Table of Contents
What Are Rhythmic Motifs?
Want to be able to write catchy, memorable songs? Rhythm helps us to distinguish one melody from another. It can also add unity and variety to your melodies. Read more to learn about writing great songs using rhythmic motifs.
What is a motif? A motif is a short melodic or rhythmic idea. Motifs help define and unify a melody. As the name implies, rhythmic motifs focus on the recurring rhythmic figures in a piece of music. It remains an important aspect of songwriting.
This article uses technical musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
Introducing the Examples for Writing Great Songs Using Rhythmic Motifs
To learn how to write great songs using rhythmic motifs, you need to look at a great song as an example of how to do it.
Yesterday is in some ways the quintessential pop song, being probably the most covered song in history. More than 2,500 artists had covered the song by 1980 alone.
It has the classic AABA form (with the BA repeated) and has a really catchy melody (despite the use of a seven measure phrase). We’ll look at how Sir Paul uses rhythm to unify the verse melody of Yesterday.
Verse two has the most unified rhythm, so that will be the example for today’s post. The video has the full song with lyrics.
The following example shows the second verse rhythm:
Mobile users: for best results reading the music, tilt your screen 90o to the right.
Yesterday Second Verse Rhythm:
Yesterday Video
Writing Great Songs Using Rhythmic Motifs: Motifs I & II
We’ll start by looking at two rhythmic figures as examples for writing great songs using rhythmic motifs. Looking at the example in the last section, two relationships pop out right away. The first three measures have a rhythmic figure that we’ll call Rhythmic Motif I.
In example 1, Rhythmic Motif I can easily be seen in beat 1 of measures 1 and 3. Also, it can be found in beat 3 of measure 2. Likewise, measures 5 – 7 have been unified by Rhythmic Motif II.
The rhythmic motifs lend cohesion to the phrase even though Sir Paul sings various pitches throughout the phrase. Rhythmic Motif I gives the first measures a high amount of unity. Also, Rhythmic Motif II does the same thing for the last three measures, especially the last two.
Rhythm Comparisons and Writing Great Songs Using Rhythmic Motifs
Rhythmic Motif Comparison I
Even though Rhythmic Motifs I and II have distinct rhythms, they are related by similar elements. Take a look above at the stacked comparison of the two basic units. You can see in this example the strong kinship between the two motifs.
The rhythm lines up on the beat for both beats 1 and 2, and on the “and” of beat two of the upper and lower motifs. Also, both the upper and lower motifs have a tie into beat 3. In fact, the main difference between the upper and lower motifs:
- The upper motif has a couple of extra strokes
- The entrance to the tie gets delayed a quarter beat
- In addition, the motifs start on different beats in measure 2 and 5
Motifs I and II don’t really sound that similar during casual listening. However, their basic structure does lend itself, subconsciously, to unifying the phrase. The next section takes a deeper look at writing great songs using rhythmic motifs.
Rhythmic Motif Comparison II
Motif I has some resemblance to measure 4 in the first example. As you can see from the comparison, both the upper and lower motifs agree on the beat 1, the “a” of beat 1, and in the use of a tie. In many ways, the lower rhythmic motif looks like a repackaging of the upper one. Looking at both comparisons, a case can be made that every measure in verse two is related in some way, rhythmically speaking.
Of course, Sir Paul probably didn’t think all this when he wrote the melody. According to him, he literally dreamed it up while sleeping. He wrote a fantastic song using unifying rhythmic motifs, but it all happened at the subconscious level. However, it does show how the ear naturally craves unity, at least to an extent. (To learn how to pull a melody out of your lyrics, click here.)
Writing Great Songs Using Rhythmic Motifs: Rhythmic Motifs Shifting Beats
Variety remains just as important as unity, and a balance between the two can be seen in Yesterday’s verses. This balance is also an aspect of writing great songs using rhythmic motifs. One source of variety stems from the notes. Though the rhythm has a definite structure, the pitches vary from measure to measure.
The lyrics in the other verses also creates variety. These verses conform less strictly to the rhythmic scheme seen in verse two. This happens because each verse needs a different rhythm as the text changes from verse to verse.
Finally, the starting place of the pattern of Rhythmic Motif I shifts from beat to beat in the first half of verse two. This creates a different feel to Rhythmic Motif I as the rhythmic unit gets restressed.
Conclusion
This gives you an idea of how to write great songs using rhythmic motifs. Rhythm is a powerful part of music, and it can be used to your advantage when you try to create memorable melodies.
Ultimately, look to create enough unity to hold the tune together, but enough variety to keep it from becoming boring. Keep in mind, the melody’s rhythm has to work naturally with the rhythm of the text.
© 2021 Geoffrey Keith
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Glossary
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