The sky is always above our heads. Some can see the beauty of it, but some can't. The sky always changes just in a few minutes. I always look up at the sky and realize that it's not the same. The same is true of music. The structure and the melodies of the music are repeated from the old ideas, from the older composers. For example, in GeorgeRochberg's Paganini Variation for Unaccompanied violin, Rochberg uses the theme from Niccolo Paganini, the Italian composer who has a famous work called Caprice No.24. Rochberg uses the theme combine with his compositional style to write this piece. Even the music is not based on an older piece, there are still some elements that are repeated.

​

The meaning of repetition for me, it's not about only repeating over and over but about finding new meaning in what is different. These meanings were hiding in my program, including in Bruch's Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor. 

"The Romantic Era in music altered its inherited forms and created new ones" (Einstein, Alfred. Music in the Romantic Era. New York, NY: Norton. 1947)  This sentence represents the essence of music in the Romantic era. This Concerto has 3 movements, each movement begins with a small theme, and this theme develops into a bigger phrase that has the sense of the main theme. The themes are repeated but they grow each time. Development requires some repetition. Repetition is like the seed and development is like the plant.

​

The next piece that I'm going to perform is Paganini Caprice No.16. This piece has very repetitive elements. Paganini only changes the pitches, while the contour and rhythm stay the same. The elements of this piece including arpeggios in the different chords and big string crossings. In this case, this repetition does not involve development but instead has the same elements and changes only pitch so we can feel the same contour and feel like it's repeating over and over. The fast tempo and the repeating contour make some excitement and the audience can feel like the music is going mad. Repetition in a fast loop can be like madness.

​

In pop music, the chord and structure of the songs are quite the same often I-IV-V-I. So I decided to include my favorite pop song for this recital. In this song, the chords are played repeatedly over and over but the melodies and the words are changed in each verse. So this repetition makes the audience comfortable. We feel good when the music is predictable, and we know what's going to happen next.

​

​