Composing Memorable Melody (Chapter Three)

Okay, by now you should have a firm grasp of the ingredients needed to compose memorable melody. Let’s recap. –

1. It all comes down to intervals or intervallic structure – the distance from one note to the next (ex. 2nd, 3rd, etc.) – watch this video for a refresher on intervals.
2. The diatonic scale – seven notes, C to shining C – (ex. C  D  E  F  G  A  B  C = diatonic scale).
3. An expressive element.
4. Use of repetition.

Let’s look at an example of a bad or poorly crafted tune.

Now, let’s analyze the reasons why we consider this a poorly crafted tune.

So now let’s look at an example of a good, or well-crafted melody.

Why is it good? Well…

Remember what Mr. Copland says,

A beautiful melody, like a piece of music in its entirety, should be of satisfying proportions. It must give us a sense of completion and of inevitability. To do that, the melodic line will generally be long and flowing, with low and high points of interest and a climactic moment usually near the end.

The well-crafted melody is too short to take any listener on a journey. But it does fulfill the requirements for a well-balanced and inevitably complete melody.

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I hope you’ve found these three mini-lessons to be helpful. Composing memorable melody really is that easy! Just remember the four main ingredients –

1. Intervallic structure
2. Diatonic scale
3. Expressive element
4. Repetition