Melody Writing – Part 2: The

Tools of Melody
Filed Under: Blog, Melody Tagged With: How to Compose Music, Music
Composing Process, Musical Form

When composing a melody, you have to be able to simultaneously

comprehend all of the different aspects of a melody, while at the same time,
push them out of the active working part of your mind, so your creativity can
take over. This was discussed in my previous article, Creativity and The
Importance of Melody.

But what are the aspects of a melody? What are the frameworks that I discuss
in the previous article? What are the tools of melody writing?

The Tools of Melody Writing

Melody writing is both an art and a science. I imagine if you can ask any
scientist if what they do is an art, undoubtedly they will say yes. This is
because everything we do, can be accomplished at such high levels of skill,
that it ceases to be a mechanical set of tasks, and becomes an expression of
who we are. This is where we find the art.

But to take it to the level of art, we have to be able to first accomplish that
mechanical set of tasks without thinking about them consciously. What are
these tasks?

Line, Rhythm, Contour, Harmony, Range, Difficulty, and Form.

Line

With line, we are concerned with what happens note to note. It is the
microscopic view of the process of melody writing. Line comes in two
different flavors – conjunct and disjunct.

Conjunct Melodic Lines

Conjunct melodic lines are step based lines or scale lines. They do not skip
but instead move along a scale. Conjunct lines are frequently seen in places of
relaxation and tension relief, but they can be used in places of building
tension as well.

Grieg – Morning from the Peer Gynt Suite

Peer Gynt Suite - Morning by Grieg

In Grieg’s “Morning” the undulating scale line leaves you with a very peaceful
feeling. (Yes I know there are a few skips in there, but overall, I consider the
line a conjunct line).

Samuel Barber – Adagio for Strings

 Samuel Barber - Adagio for Strings

Here, Samuel Barber creates a lot of tension with this continuous rising
melodic line, that is shared among the different string instruments. I think
the climax at the top is one of the most striking moments in all of music.

Disjunct Melodic Lines

Disjunct melodic lines are also known as chord lines. They are not stepwise
and don’t follow the scale as conjunct lines do but instead skip around. This is
not to say that they are not part of a scale – they are. In fact, disjunct lines
more often than not, follow specific chords. Just as with conjunct melodic
lines, they can be used to create tension (sometimes enormous amounts of
tension), as well as relieving it or maintaining a peaceful feel. It all depends
on how you use them.

Prokofiev – Romeo and Juliet, The Dance of the Knights

 Proko:ev: Romeo and Juliet, No 13 Dance of the Knights (Valery Gergiev, LSO)

What can I say, powerful.

Rossini – William Tell Overture

 ROSSINI: William Tell Overture (full version)

William Tell Overture, by Rossini, has one of the most peaceful melodies out
there. Even though it is disjunct, because it is hovering around the same
register, it doesn’t build much tension.

Rhythm

Rhythm is one of the best ways to easily bring interest to your melody. I’ve
noticed, both in my own composing, and in others, that deliberately thinking
about and mastering the rhythmic aspect, separate from the line, can lead to
very interesting consequences. This is because when you free yourself from
the notes, and just worry about the rhythm, you free a large portion your
concentration, to do something unique.

I suggest you try an experiment. I want you to take a look at something you’ve
composed, where you weren’t deliberately thinking about the rhythm. Look at
the melody and in particular, look at the rhythm. Chances are, it is pretty
simple. It probably is mostly quarter notes, with maybe a few 8th notes.
Heck, maybe you even threw in a dotted eighth and sixteenth. It’s not wrong,
but it doesn’t bring interest on the rhythmic level.

Now, take some time, and compose a rhythm. Any rhythm. But bring in some
different aspects. Maybe a triplet. Maybe it is in 5/4 or 7/4, and you have a
triplet, 16th notes and a half note. Whatever you put in, challenge yourself to
create something interesting, purely on the rhythmic level.

Now add the notes. Make them work together. It is at this level where the
composing is truly difficult. This is where you work out the nuance, and this
is where geniuses take their time.

Some interesting rhythmic composers.

Stravinsky – The Rite of Spring

Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring, Animated Graphical Score, 1/2

Holst – Jupiter

Gustav Holst - The Planets - Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity

I’ve always loved the opening horn solo. Pretty interesting rhythmically as
well. Notice how he uses rhythms during the intense sections, like the
opening, versus how he uses them later on in the more pastoral section
around 2:53.

Harmony

Harmony and melody are siblings. Sometimes they will get along perfectly,
sitting in the back of the car playing road trip games. Other times they are
yelling and hitting each other, and you have no choice but to turn the car
around.

Melody outlines harmony, and harmony dictates melody. It is a difficult

conundrum to get around, especially when you are a beginner composer. It
helps to have an understanding of functional harmony, and to know all of
your chords and their inversions cold.

The truth is, there is nothing wrong with writing your melody to a pre-
established chord progression. Every composer has done it. Think I’m lying?
Just listen to Mozart and Bach, and you’ll find both use the same chord
sequences over and over.

How does melody outline harmony?

For every chord, there are chord tones. The tones that define what the chord
is. For instance, tonic in C major, has C, E, and G. If you were to write a
melody that hits these notes, particularly on the strong beats in a bar (like 1
and 3 when writing in 4/4 time), then you will outline the harmony.

It goes without saying that you can outline a harmony with a chord line,
simply by hitting all the notes of the chord.

Contour

Contour is not the same as line. Contour is where we start to move from the
microscopic level to the macroscopic level. You are not just concerned with
what happens from note to note, but over the entire length of the melody.

It helps here to understand the instrument you are writing for as well as the
form of the piece you are writing, which I will talk about in a minute.

Different Levels of Contour

You can think of contour happening on several levels. Your mind picks up on
contour within sections as small as a basic idea, and as large as an entire
section like an exposition. The overall contour of an entire piece can also be
felt, as the general feeling of tension and relaxation.

There are several primary types of contour:

Ascending

First pitch lower than middle pitch. Middle pitch lower than last pitch.

Descending

First pitch higher than middle pitch. Middle pitch higher than final pitch.

Concave

First and last pitch higher than middle pitch.

Convex

First and last pitch lower than middle pitch.

Horizontal

First, middle, and last pitch, roughly equivalent in range.

You can also combine these contours, as well as nest them. Nesting them
means that maybe you have an overall contour of ascending, but the within
smaller sections and phrases, the contour may be descending or concave.

One of the clearest examples of contour is Samuel Barber’s Adagio for

Strings.
 Samuel Barber - Adagio for Strings

Range

Range has more to do with what you are composing the melody for. Is it for
piano which has a huge range? Or is it for trumpet, which limits you to F#
below middle C, to about C above the staff. This is very important if you want
your melody to fit with the instrument. You don’t just want your melody to be
possible to play, you want it to sound like it was actually written with your
chosen instrument in mind.

Liszt – Transcendental Etude

 Berezovsky plays Liszt's Transcendental etudes S139

Not that easy. In the first few bars, he’s covered just about the entire piano.

This leads to the next aspect.

Difficulty

I find one of the greatest weaknesses of beginning composers is their

propensity to write for virtuosos. You would think, by the amount of
incredible passages in every beginning composers Piano Concerto No. 1, that
they were all writing for Liszt himself.

You should write for someone you know. Find a friend that plays an
instrument, and write for them. Go to your school band or orchestra, and
offer to write a piece for them. I guarentee the payoff you get from hearing
your work played by real people, even people who can barely play their
instruments, will be much better than a thousand incredible cadenzas played
by Sibelius or Musescore.

Some things to think about in regards to difficulty:

Key signature. Is it in C major or B# major? Big difference.

Range and tessiture. Range is the top note to the bottom note, but
tessitura is where most of the music happens. The tessitura should be
where the instrument sounds the best, and they player can play the
longest.
Speed. Slow is easier most of the time. Fast is harder most of the time.
But you don’t want a trumpet player playing a high C for two bars at
pianissimo and 40 bpm – it ain’t gonna happen.
Rhythmic difficulty. Does it have strange rhythms, like septuplets or
nontuplets? This could be difficult for a grade 4 or 5 player.
Length. Is it a 3 minute piece or a 3 hour piece. Think about that poor
soul having to play in front of an audience for 3 hours. Painful.

Mozart – Violin Concertino in G

 A young kid playing violin

Sorry, these next ones are just funny.

Worst school band ever
 Worst Choir ever?

So just keep in mind who you are writing for.

Form

The final aspect of melody writing is form. While you don’t have to write to
any traditional form, I implore you to learn and ingrain the traditional forms
(like sonata, concerto, and rondo) into what you do. There is nothing wrong
with using them, and you will learn a lot about what it takes to develop a long
piece of music.

The form dictates when and how you climax your music. You don’t want the
most powerful thing to be in the second bar of your exposition. It’s a recipe
for boredom.

So learn your musical forms, and your melodies will benefit immensely.
Beethoven – Piano Sonata No. 23

Beethoven - Piano Sonata 23, Op.57 "Appassionata" (Color-Coded Analysis)

The Art of Melody

I am writing this in early November of 2013, and as of right now, I am
working on an in depth course in melody writing. It will take you through all
of these aspect, one by one, and give you the tools necessary to write a good
melody.

I am a firm believer that you can be taught to write a good melody. This is
because we all have the ability naturally. It is a God given gift. But like all
things God has given us, they are not given lightly. You must know how to use
them. Just as a carpenter can imagine a beautiful cabinet, but cannot create it
until he knows how to use his chisels, planes, and saws, you too must become
a craftsman with the tools of melody – Line, Rhythm, Contour,
Harmony, Range, Difficulty, and Form.