The first time we hear a song we take in the big picture, we notice the large strokes. The more we listen, details get filled in and the more complete the picture gets (and the better the song, performance, and recording, the more nuance we discover).

What are those big picture items? Probably the Title… the overall sound… the main idea of the lyric… the feeling we get from the piece… and, I’d say, the highlights of the melody. It’s easy to underestimate the importance of the key notes in a melody.

The place where I most hear this undervaluing is at the beginning of melody phrases. When the notes are the same or too similar at the start of consecutive phrases (when the listener is usually most tuned in) it can really sink a song into the doldrums.

(Repeating notes within a phrase of melody, which is common and unavoidable, is not what we’re discussing here.)

At the beginning of each phrase there will be a melody note that’s emphasized. Usually, in a well-written song, that note is joined to an important word. If we use the same note – let’s pick ‘C’ – at the start of every line, or almost every line, of the Verse this will have a subconscious dulling effect, one greater than you’d expect.

When this is followed by using that same note – in this case a ‘C’ – to start the Chorus, trouble can really happen. This occurs more often, and can slide by us more easily, than you’d think.

When the ear hears the first big note of the Chorus… and it’s the same note that’s been emphasized throughout the Verse… we think we’re about to hear more Verse! And this happens at the crucial moment when we want the listener to feel a significant, even momentous, change, even if it’s subtle, into the most memorable part of the song – the Chorus.

So, unless there’s some kind of drastic surprise in harmony or rhythm, hearing the same note we’ve heard a lot before is like shooting our song in the foot at the moment when we need it to jump the fence.

When writing, it’s easy for things to slip past us. And, as I’ve said here before, that slippage is easiest with a melody… because for many writers melodies are the least examined and least rewritten element of a song.

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