How Symmetry Strengthens a Song’s Structure

Symmetry helps to make your song feel like a complete musical journey.

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Humans are pattern-seekers. When we see things that show no sign of obvious design, we like to keep staring until we see something that makes sense to us. A good example is when you lie on your back and stare at clouds. Eventually, you’ll imagine that the clouds form the shapes of animals, faces and other familiar forms.

In music, we use repetition to offer an important sense of form, allowing the listener to hear vital patterns. We repeat verse and chorus melodies, and audiences take musical comfort from hearing those elements repeat.

Similar to repetition, symmetry is often used by songwriters to help listeners make sense of their music. When a song ends the same way it begins, like The Doors’ “Light My Fire”, it packages the music in a frame, so to speak. That’s an example of form or design symmetry.

Sometimes symmetry happens in smaller bits. Here are some examples:

1. Melodic symmetry. A songwriter might repeat a short melodic idea, once in a downward direction, then upward. That kind of balancing up and down is a kind of symmetrical approach that can strengthen its structure. Example: “Kathy’s Song” (Paul Simon):
   
2. Lyrical symmetry. Lyrical symmetry can happen on several levels. We notice it when a song’s lyric ends the way it begins. Example: “Look Away” (Diane Warren). But you can also achieve lyrical symmetry by using similar words and phrases throughout a song. I’ve mentioned this before when talking about Billy Joel’s song “Uptown Girl”, which features fragments of lyrics that all have a similar rhythmic effect as we find with the title words: “uptown world”, “backstreet guy”, and so on.
3. Rhythmic symmetry. Give “She Wouldn’t Be Gone” (Jennifer Aden/Corey Batten, recorded by Blake Shelton) a listen, and you’ll hear rhythmic patterns in the background rhythm guitar that are based on the first syncopated rhythm of the melody. The symmetry comes through when you hear the guitar acting as a kind of “answer” to verse phrases.

In music, symmetry can often be best described as an answering figure that either repeats the same feature just heard, or a mirror image of what has just been heard (i.e., an upward-moving line followed by a downward moving one).

When you’ve written a song, it can be time well spent to give your music a good listen and try to see if you’ve been able to incorporate elements of symmetry.

If you haven’t, it doesn’t mean you’ve created a problem. But sometimes simply ending a song the way you started it can add a strong feeling of structural cohesion that makes your song feel like a complete musical journey.

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Written by Gary Ewer. Follow on Twitter.

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