# Question On Music Characteristic



## haydnguy (Oct 13, 2008)

This question probably goes in the music theory forum but I've noticed it in some popular music.

I'm not a "music person" (just a fan). Can anyone tell me what it's called when a piece of music has a small range of pitches throughout the piece?

I have noticed some songs where the keys stay right around the same range and the song sounds boring. I thought perhaps this was "dynamics" but every time I read something about dynamics it usually discusses the "loudness" of the music. I was a bit more interested in music where the tones stay around the same and make the music boring. Thanks.


----------



## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

I'm not sure if there's a definition for it onestly. I've often read talking about "melodic contour", meaning exactly how the notes go up and down in a melody, but I'm not sure if there's a way to distinguish melodies with big range from melodies with a smaller range. If I remember correctly, Alec Wilder in his famous book "American popular song" (a book about the songs of the great american songbook, so we're talking about the first half of the 20th century mostly) said something like that usually theatre songs had a wider range than film songs, and film songs had a wider range than pop songs. 
I don't know if this is still true, because a lot of pop singers in the second half of the century were aiming to show their vocal abilities hitting the highest notes possible, even using the whistle register (like Minnie Riperton, or later singers like Betty Wright or Mariah Carey). 
But I think that what makes a melody boring more than the small range is the use of repeated notes. Obviously there's not a rule, because a lot of great songs have a lot of repeated notes and it could be used on purpose for many effects (even the effect of making boring music on purpose), but still a lot of musicians in pop and rock music don't have the skill or even the awareness to avoid melodies with a lot of repeated notes.


----------

