In music, a variation is an altered repetition that takes place in a composition.
The concept in music
In the field of music , on the other hand, variation refers to an altered repetition within the framework of a composition . It is a technique that leads to reiterating, with alterations, a rhythm, a melody or another element throughout the work.
The main theme, thus, is imitated in subthemes. These imitations are known as variations. Although there are rules to limit the composition of variations of a piece, the creativity of each artist is what really makes the difference and can achieve surprising results, taking a work to hundreds of different forms without losing its original identity.
True musicians, those who are born with the vocation imprinted in their genes, cannot help but create variations on their favorite themes, regardless of whether they put them into the score or simply leave them as mere improvisations. The skill that a person with musical training acquires over the years allows these alterations to be made spontaneously, without losing the original work but transforming it with each repetition.
Melodic variation is ideal for ornamenting and making a work more complex. Generally, it consists of adding more notes per measure, breaking down the figures into smaller ones (quarter notes in sixteenth notes, for example). A rhythmic variation, on the other hand, can alter the character of a piece, even taking it from one style to another thanks to certain resources, such as syncopation. Varying the harmony is more difficult, since it requires deeper musical knowledge, which allows adding or altering the chords, in some cases without playing the original melody, resulting in a new "vision" of it.
Genetic variation
Genetic variation is linked to evolution . The alternative forms presented by genes located in the same position on homologous chromosomes are known as alleles , whose expression defines various traits.
If there are many alleles for a gene, one can prevail over the others and thus natural selection occurs. Therefore, genetic variation contributes to the evolutionary process .
Mathematical variation
For mathematics , variations are subsets that have the same number of elements as the set in question, although with differences in the order or in a certain element.
Variation in colloquial language
The idea of variation is also used in colloquial language to name a modification that makes a thing different from what it was or what it usually is, transforming its characteristics, its shape, etc. It is also a registered change in something.
Suppose a person usually makes an apple pie with raisins . One afternoon, however, he decides to use prunes . This means that he introduced a variation on the usual recipe .
Colloquially, variation is linked to an introduction of changes.
Let's take the case of the Gross Domestic Product ( GDP ) of a country. The variation in GDP or GDP in the last decade, for example, shows how the data changed over ten years.
These two examples show us that the concept of variation can appear in any context, and that in colloquial language we can use it with complete freedom to describe a transformative change that we appreciate, without the need for technical knowledge. Whether it is an oscillation in the intensity of the light bulbs, in the noise emitted by the refrigerator or in the amount of the telephone bill, any alteration that surprises us can be called this way.