Music as a Puzzle: What Makes Up Our Favorite Songs

How Songs Evolve with Us Over Time

Hello, everyone! I’m Rivka, a piano teacher, and I’ve spent years creating sheet music for Jewish songs. Every time I sit down to write out a song, I feel like an explorer heading into unknown territory. It’s always exciting! Music starts in someone’s mind, and my job is to put it on paper (or into a digital file) so that others can play or sing it just like the composer imagined.

Music changes over time, reflecting not only people’s tastes but also their views on life. This is important because each era leaves its mark, helping us see how thoughts and feelings shift. For example, simpler harmonies may indicate a desire for ease, while complex rhythms suggest a search for new expressions.

I’ve noticed interesting changes in how melody, harmony, and rhythm work together, especially in Jewish songs, but these ideas also fit modern music. Looking at these changes helps us understand how music has grown and why it sounds the way it does today. Let’s explore these changes together!

Melody

Simplicity as the New Trend

When I break down a song, I always start with the melody—it’s the heart of the music. It’s what we hum or play, and it usually grabs our attention first. Surprisingly, the melody isn’t the hardest part to write down. You can often sing or play it by ear and then jot it down. The real challenges come with harmony and rhythm, but we’ll get to that later!

Now, about the melody itself. Older songs often had rich and interesting transitions between notes, making them fun to listen to. In contrast, many modern songs, especially popular ones, simplify melodies a lot—sometimes a whole verse is just two or three notes! But hey, repetition helps us remember, which is why these catchy tunes often become hits.

Even in modern songs, though, there are cool melodic twists, especially when composers mix up the bass lines or jump between octaves. So while melodies may have gotten simpler, they’re still a key part of any song.

Next, let’s dive into harmony and rhythm—those tricky parts that can be much more complex to capture!

Harmony

More is Less?

In contemporary songs, particularly from popular artists, things have become much simpler. Typically, we’re looking at 4-5 basic chords (why complicate things?) with a few variations. This simplified harmony makes it more predictable and easier to grasp. “Less is more,” right? And you know what? It works! Simple harmony makes songs easy to digest. I think that’s why such songs gain popularity—they’re accessible, understandable, and memorable from the first listen.

Sure, every era has its musical preferences, but modern simplicity has its unique charm.One of the best things about buying digital sheet music is that it’s available right away. As soon as you make a purchase, you can download your music and start playing. You don’t have to wait for shipping, and you can access your music from anywhere, anytime, by logging into your account. My site also features an easy-to-use search function, allowing you to quickly find sheet music by artist or category, making your experience smooth and hassle-free.

*Chords are groups of notes that sound together, forming the harmonic basis of a song

Rhythm

The Heart of Every Song ❤️

If you think complicated harmony is a challenge, just wait until you tackle rhythm! Modern songs often surprise us with their rhythmic complexity. Syncopations (where the emphasis falls on the weaker beat), triplets (where one note decides to split into three instead of the usual two), and various delays create a rhythm that’s intricate and unusual.

The rhythmic patterns in modern songs can be more complex than they appear at first glance. Moreover, the rhythm can change mid-song—like a verse in 3/4 time suddenly shifting to 4/4 in the chorus. This happens in older songs too, but it seems to occur more frequently in contemporary music. This approach makes the transcription process “fun” (read: “challenging”). Sometimes, I spend more time catching all these rhythm changes than if the song had a more familiar structure.

In older songs, the rhythm is usually more predictable. The same rhythmic patterns often repeat, making it easier to write down the notes. But that doesn’t mean old songs were simple—they just used rhythm as a foundation for more intricate melodies and harmonies.

*Syncopation is a rhythmic element where the emphasis shifts from the strong beat to the weak one, creating an interesting rhythmic effect.

*Triplet is a group of three notes of equal duration, often used to create rhythmic variation.

✍️ Behind the Notes

Music Without Rules?

Now let’s talk about those who create the music I work with. In the process of transcribing notes, I can often immediately tell who the author is—a professional composer or a talented self-taught musician. Professionals know musical rules inside and out, and what’s more important—they know how to break them effectively. This makes their music structured, logical, and quite predictable to transcribe.

Amateurs, on the other hand, aren’t bound by any frameworks, which gives them the freedom to be creative. They write music as they feel it, without adherence to rules, which sometimes results in works that are surprisingly fresh and unique. In such pieces, I have to find ways to fit the composer’s ideas into the notation system so they can be performed.

Music written by amateurs can range from incredibly simple to unexpectedly complex. And, of course, each time, it brings something new and distinctive. So while working with such compositions requires a bit more effort, the result is always interesting and worthwhile.

Differences Between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Music

From Clarity to Fluidity

Another fascinating observation concerns the differences in musical styles based on various traditions. In European music, especially in Ashkenazi songs, melodies often have a clear structure and direct transitions between notes. This makes the transcription process quite predictable and, one could say, comfortable. But once we venture into Eastern music, particularly Sephardi melodies, it’s a whole new adventure.

Do you know what the main challenge is? It’s the melismas! Melismas are when one note “swims” into another through several intermediary notes. Capturing that fluidity and multi-layering in notation is no easy task. Sure, I can notate the main notes, but all the subtleties of those melodic embellishments often get left to the performer. On the piano, it’s particularly challenging, as some melismas are practically impossible to convey. However, on other instruments, like wind or string instruments, it’s certainly doable. It’s these nuances that make Eastern music so vibrant and rich, as performers infuse their artistry with voice or instrument to convey the beauty of the music.

Conclusion: The Magic That Never Fades

Every time I take on a new song, I do it with immense curiosity and anticipation. Each melody feels like a new adventure: you never know what challenges it will bring and how the transcription process will unfold. Sometimes, a song turns out to be incredibly complex, and I think, “Wow, I’ve never encountered anything like this before!” Other times, it seems like a tough task ahead, but everything flows smoothly. And that feeling of discovery and wonder doesn’t fade, even after many years of working with music.

I’m still amazed that through notation, we can convey music across years and distances. Someone once penned a genius melody, and now, decades or even centuries later, we can perform it without ever knowing the person. Notation is an incredible tool that helps us recreate melodies, even if they physically don’t exist. They preserve music that can be revived simply by looking at a few black dots on five lines.

And while there are countless ways to share music in our tech-driven world, playing from sheet music is a special process that I hope will stay with us for a long time. If you’re curious about how the process of creating sheet music works, you can find out in my next article. Next time, I’ll share how I create the sheet music for the songs available on my website.