ostinato

Musical pattern that is continuously repeated during a section or throughout a complete piece of music. The repeating idea may be a rhythmic pattern, part of a tune, or a complete melody.

Ostinati play an important role in Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring (1913), Maurice Ravel's Boléro (1928), and Carl Orff's Carmina Burana (1937). Ostinato-like structures are also important in Balinese gamelan (percussion ensemble). In the 1960s, tape-loop recycling of fragments of melody and sound was a starting point for the minimalism of Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and John Adams.