Variations (music) facts for kids

In music, a variation is when you take a piece of music, called a theme, and change it in different ways. Imagine you have a simple tune. A variation would be playing that tune but making it faster, slower, or adding new notes. The cool thing is, even with all these changes, you can still recognize the original tune!

Composers often write pieces called "theme and variation." Sometimes they create their own theme. Other times, they use a famous tune written by someone else and then create many variations on it.

There are many ways to change a tune. Each variation will sound a bit different. For example, a variation might play the tune much faster or much slower. It could add extra sharps and flats or other fancy notes. Sometimes, the tune is played in different octaves (higher or lower). Composers might also change the harmony (the chords that go with the tune) or the rhythm. They might even use different instruments or combine the tune with other melodies (counterpoint).

History of Musical Variations

Composers have used variations for hundreds of years. In the Renaissance and Baroque periods, composers often wrote variations on a short tune played in the bass (low notes). This bass tune would repeat over and over. It was called a ground bass, or sometimes a passacaglia or chaconne.

Renaissance composers also liked to write "divisions." This meant changing a tune by playing it at double the speed or half the speed. So, a crotchet (quarter note) might become a quaver (eighth note), making the music sound much faster.

George Frideric Handel wrote a famous set of variations for the harpsichord called Harmonious Blacksmith. Johann Sebastian Bach created the Goldberg Variations, a very long piece with 30 variations. It was written for a man who had trouble sleeping. He would ask his harpsichord player, named Goldberg, to play it for him.

Famous Composers and Their Variations

Many composers from the Classical, Romantic, and 20th century periods wrote sets of variations.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote several. One of his famous sets was based on a French folk tune. You might know this tune as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in English.

Beethoven also wrote many amazing variations. Most were for the piano. But he also used the variation form in other pieces, like the slow movement of his Ninth Symphony.

Schubert often wrote variations using tunes from his own songs. Other composers who wrote great variations include Brahms, Elgar, Schoenberg, and Britten.

Images for kids

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  This is the fifth variation of the "Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman" theme.

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  This is the seventh variation of the "Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman" theme.

See also

In Spanish: Variación (música) para niños