A refrain (from

Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal registers of Latin spoken from the Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve into numerous Romance languages. Its literary counterpa ...

''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligi ...

''refraindre'') is the

line Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Art ...

or lines that are repeated in

music Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...

or in

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings ...

— the "chorus" of a

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetiti ...

Poetic Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

fixed forms that feature refrains include the villanelle, the virelay, and the

sestina A sestina (, from ''sesto'', sixth; Old Occitan: ''cledisat'' ; also known as ''sestine'', ''sextine'', ''sextain'') is a fixed verse form consisting of six stanzas of six lines each, normally followed by a three-line envoi. The words that end ...

. In popular music, the refrain or chorus may contrast with the verse

melodically A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...

, rhythmically, and

harmonically In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However, ...

; it may assume a higher level of dynamics and activity, often with added instrumentation. Chorus form, or

strophic form Strophic form – also called verse-repeating form, chorus form, AAA song form, or one-part song form – is a song structure in which all verses or stanzas of the text are sung to the same music. Contrasting song forms include through-composed, ...

, is a sectional and/or additive way of structuring a piece of music based on the

repetition Repetition may refer to: *Repetition (rhetorical device), repeating a word within a short space of words * Repetition (bodybuilding), a single cycle of lifting and lowering a weight in strength training *Working title for the 1985 slasher film '' ...

of one formal section or block played repeatedly.

Usage in history

, a refrain has two parts: the

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer ...

of the song, and the

melody A melody (from Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combina ...

. Sometimes refrains vary their words slightly when repeated; recognizability is given to the refrain by the fact that it is always sung to the same tune, and the

rhyme A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually, the exact same phonemes) in the final stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of perfect rhyming is consciously used for a musical or aesthetic ...

s, if present, are preserved despite the variations of the words. Such a refrain is featured in "

The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the bo ...

," which contains a refrain which is introduced by a different phrase in each verse, but which always ends: :''O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.'' A similar refrain is found in the " Battle Hymn of the Republic," which affirms in successive verses that "Our God," or "His Truth," is "marching on." Refrains usually, but not always, come at the end of the verse. Some songs, especially

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

s, incorporate refrains (or ''burdens'') into each verse. For example, one version of the traditional ballad " The Cruel Sister" includes a refrain mid-verse: :There lived a lady by the North Sea shore, ::''Lay the bent to the bonny broom'' :Two daughters were the babes she bore. ::'' Fa la la la la la la la la.'' :As one grew bright as is the sun, ::''Lay the bent to the bonny broom'' :So coal black grew the other one. ::''Fa la la la la la la la.'' :. . . (Note: the refrain of 'Lay the Bent to the Bonny Broom' is not traditionally associated with the ballad of "The Cruel Sister" ( Child #10). This was the work of 'pop-folk' group Pentangle on their 1970 LP '' Cruel Sister'' which has subsequently been picked up by many folk singers as being traditional. Both the melody and the refrain come from the ballad known as " Riddles Wisely Expounded" (Child #1).) Here, the refrain is

syntactically In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...

independent of the

narrative poem Narrative poetry is a form of poetry that tells a story, often using the voices of both a narrator and characters; the entire story is usually written in metered verse. Narrative poems do not need rhyme. The poems that make up this genre may be ...

in the song, and has no obvious relationship to its subject, and indeed little inherent meaning at all. The device can also convey material which relates to the subject of the poem. Such a refrain is found in

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...

's "Troy Town": :Heavenborn Helen, Sparta's queen, ::''O Troy Town!'' :Had two breasts of heavenly sheen, :The sun and moon of the heart's desire: :All Love's lordship lay between, :A sheen on the breasts I Love. ::''O Troy's down,'' ::''Tall Troy's on fire!'' :. . . Phrases of apparent

nonsense Nonsense is a communication, via speech, writing, or any other symbolic system, that lacks any coherent meaning. Sometimes in ordinary usage, nonsense is synonymous with absurdity or the ridiculous. Many poets, novelists and songwriters have us ...

in refrains (''Lay the bent to the bonny broom?''), and syllables such as ''fa la la'', familiar from the

Christmas carol A Christmas carol is a carol (a song or hymn) on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French or ...

Deck the Halls "Deck the Hall” is a traditional Christmas carol. The melody is Welsh, dating back to the sixteenth century, and belongs to a winter carol, " Nos Galan", while the English lyrics, written by the Scottish musician Thomas Oliphant, date to 1862 ...

with Boughs of Holly", have given rise to much speculation. Some believe that the traditional refrain ''Hob a derry down O'' encountered in some English

folksong Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has be ...

s is in fact an ancient Celtic phrase meaning "dance around the oak tree." These suggestions remain controversial.

In popular music

There are two distinct uses of the word "chorus". In the thirty-two bar song form that was most common in the earlier twentieth-century popular music (especially the

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It originally referred to a specific place: West 28th Street ...

tradition), "chorus" referred to the entire main section of the song (which was in a thirty-two bar AABA form). Beginning in the rock music of the 1950s, another form became more common in commercial pop music, which was based in an open-ended cycle of verses instead of a fixed 32-bar form. In this form (which is more common than thirty-two bar form in later-twentieth century pop music), "choruses" with fixed lyrics are alternated with "verses" in which the lyrics are different with each repetition. In this use of the word, chorus contrasts with the verse, which usually has a sense of leading up to the chorus. "Many popular songs, particularly from early in this century, are in a verse and a chorus (''refrain'') form. Most popular songs from the middle of the century consist only of a chorus." While the terms 'refrain' and 'chorus' often are used synonymously, it has been suggested to use 'refrain' exclusively for a recurring line of identical text and melody which is part of a formal section—an A section in an AABA form (as in ''I Got Rhythm'': "...who could ask for anything more?") or a verse (as in ''Blowing in the Wind'': "...the answer my friend is blowing in the wind")—whereas 'chorus' shall refer to a discrete form part (as in ''Yellow Submarine'': "We all live in a..."). According to the

musicologists Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some ...

Ralf von Appen and Markus Frei-Hauenschild,

In German, the term, "Refrain," is used synonymously with "chorus" when referring to a chorus within the verse/chorus form. At least one English-language author, Richard Middleton, uses the term in the same way. In English usage, however, the term, »refrain« typically refers to what in German is more precisely called the »Refrainzeile« (refrain line): a lyric at the beginning or end of a section that is repeated in every iteration. In this usage, the refrain does not constitute a discrete, independent section within the form.

In jazz

Many Tin-Pan Alley songs using thirty-two bar form are central to the traditional

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

repertoire. In jazz arrangements the word "chorus" refers to the same unit of music as in the Tin Pan Alley tradition, but unlike the Tin Pan Alley tradition a single song can have more than one chorus. Von Appen and Frei-Hauenschild explain, "The term, 'chorus' can also refer to a single iteration of the entire 32 bars of the AABA form, especially among jazz musicians, who improvise over multiple repetitions of such choruses."Appen and Frei-Hauenschild 2015, p. 4.

Arranger's chorus

In jazz, an arranger's chorus is where the

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestra ...

uses particularly elaborate techniques to exhibit their skill and to impress the listener. This may include use of counterpoint,

reharmonization In music, harmonization is the chordal accompaniment to a part (music), line or melody: "Using chords and melodies together, making harmony by stacking scale tones as triads". A harmonized scale can be created by using each note of a musical s ...

, tone color, or any other arranging device. The arranger's chorus is generally not the first or the last chorus of a jazz performance.

Shout chorus

In jazz, a shout chorus (occasionally: out chorus) is usually the last chorus of a

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

arrangement, and is characterized by being the most energetic, lively, and exciting and by containing the musical climax of the piece. A shout chorus characteristically employs extreme

ranges In the Hebrew Bible and in the Old Testament, the word ranges has two very different meanings. Leviticus In Leviticus 11:35, ranges probably means a cooking furnace for two or more pots, as the Hebrew word here is in the dual number; or perhaps ...

, loud dynamics, and a re-arrangement of melodic motives into short, accented riffs. Shout choruses often feature

tutti ''Tutti'' is an Italian word literally meaning ''all'' or ''together'' and is used as a musical term, for the whole orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from dif ...

or concerted writing, but may also use

contrapuntal In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tra ...

writing or

call and response Call and response is a form of interaction between a speaker and an audience in which the speaker's statements ("calls") are punctuated by responses from the listeners. This form is also used in music, where it falls under the general category of ...

between the

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...

and

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

s, or between the ensemble and the

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western bands that play rock, pop, jazz, or R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeeping and embellishing the musical timbre. The drummer' ...

. Additionally, brass players frequently use extended techniques such as falls, doits, turns, and shakes to add excitement.

References