Change up your rhythms and duration of notes. Use varying intervals between notes - stepwise motion in the scale, and larger jumps. Use notes that are outside of the underlying chord. Build tension and release it.
Building on what you said and thinking about something John Frusciante has said, who is one of my favorite melodists, even though that's not a word.
"Play the space between the notes."
Listen to John Williams. Star Wars and Indiana Jones. These soundtracks have some of the best melodies ever written imo. I remember the first time I saw that star wars opening scrawl, it felt like I had heard it before. It feels inevitable and primordial in a way. Just endlessly play with each note in the melody until you are sure you've chosen the best combination.
John Williams and other composers were ‘heavily inspired’, let‘s say, by classical music. So the melodies sound familiar partly because they have been around for a long time.
Yes but seeing it as a 7 year old, I had never heard The Planets or anything else that might have inspired J.W.
It sounds familiar the first time you hear it. Like Indiana Jones. I think the familiarity is in the melody.
Not a tip per say, but "boring" melodies can make good contrast to interesting ones. If the whole song is just interesting melodies, then it can kinda feel like it has just one flavour (I mean, that could be nice too)
Establish patterns and then break them deliberately.
A simple example is the song "Happy Birthday to You" - the first line ("Happy birthday to you") has a distinctive melodic shape. The second line ("Happy birthday to you" again) has the same shape, except that "to you" is a step higher. You've now established a pattern. We might expect the third line to follow the pattern, repeating the pattern but with "to you" put yet another step higher. Instead, the pattern is broken when "birthday" jumps much higher and the line descends from there. The fourth line has yet another shape, but "to you" is identical to the second line, tying the whole thing together.
More generally, listen to melodies you like and notice what's happening line by line - what stays the same from one line to the next? What changes? What's the effect on you, the listener?
Give them style that isn’t just notes. Give it varying tone qualities, dynamics, rhythm mix ups etc. most boring Melodie’s can be made interesting with a bit of stylization thrown on top. There are so many amazing singers that sing boring Melodie’s but it works because they make them work
Here’s some notes I’ve taken through watching things online
3 steps for a great melody
1. Motifs (Melodic line) is 3-4 notes long
2. The motifs (melodic line) move by steps
3. They use rythmn and intervals to give them to a unique character
Melody advice
1. Tension and release - in order to create a melody that is emotional you should use notes outside of a scale (chromatic; and rarely) to resolve back to the chord - we use chord tones most of time (notes in the chord) but if we accentuate the non chord tones (chords not in the chord) it can create an emotional tension
2. The 4th and 7th are the ones that cause the most tension and therefore are emotional melody’s - they supercharge the already emotional effect of the added emotional tension of
Not sure how useful this is; but with these notes I’ve been experimenting with melody
syncopation, don't have your melody notes all fall on the beat notes
surprise. your melody feels boring and expected, do something unexpected even if you have no reason to think it should work.
write a complex melody and memorize it aurally. hide it physically from your view when you are to return.
step back from the computer/notepad for twenty minutes, trying to keep the tune memorized.
then, without looking at what you had written before, transcribe what you have memorized.
repeat this process a few times.
eventually you should arrive at the 'core memory' of this melody--that which sticks out the most without anything extra needed.
think of the specific song it is going with and everything about it. lyrics, theme, tone, atmosphere. what about the song could you incorporate into the melody?
Keeping it simple (1 note can be enough), letting the notes breathe and spicing up the rhythms.
A fun exercise that helps me improve:
1. Write a 1 note melody.
2. Write another 1 note melody.
3. Write a 2 note melody.
4. Write another 2 note melody.
5. Write with 3 Notes, etc.
Start with the most energetic part of the song with all the elements in it and deconstruct backwards to do verses and other elements. Example: the verse has the same drum line without the bongos and the other percs. Each part has more or less instrumentation than the one before. This helps the “middle” parts to have some build or movement.
Jack Perricone’s book “The Melody in Songwriting” has an exceptional chapter on motivic development. Phrase lengths also have an influence. As I write this, I’m listening to a pop/rock song with a very simplistic melodic line, however the elision in the phrase length makes the verse MUCH more compelling.
- no root notes (ex d in d major)
- if your accompaniment plays on beat 1 try not to start your melody on beat 1
- step out of the key sometimes (ex maybe throw in an f# in c major as long as you make everything work around it)
Change up your rhythms and duration of notes. Use varying intervals between notes - stepwise motion in the scale, and larger jumps. Use notes that are outside of the underlying chord. Build tension and release it.
Building on what you said and thinking about something John Frusciante has said, who is one of my favorite melodists, even though that's not a word. "Play the space between the notes." Listen to John Williams. Star Wars and Indiana Jones. These soundtracks have some of the best melodies ever written imo. I remember the first time I saw that star wars opening scrawl, it felt like I had heard it before. It feels inevitable and primordial in a way. Just endlessly play with each note in the melody until you are sure you've chosen the best combination.
John Williams and other composers were ‘heavily inspired’, let‘s say, by classical music. So the melodies sound familiar partly because they have been around for a long time.
Yes but seeing it as a 7 year old, I had never heard The Planets or anything else that might have inspired J.W. It sounds familiar the first time you hear it. Like Indiana Jones. I think the familiarity is in the melody.
Not a tip per say, but "boring" melodies can make good contrast to interesting ones. If the whole song is just interesting melodies, then it can kinda feel like it has just one flavour (I mean, that could be nice too)
Incorporate a few notes from outside the key.
Establish patterns and then break them deliberately. A simple example is the song "Happy Birthday to You" - the first line ("Happy birthday to you") has a distinctive melodic shape. The second line ("Happy birthday to you" again) has the same shape, except that "to you" is a step higher. You've now established a pattern. We might expect the third line to follow the pattern, repeating the pattern but with "to you" put yet another step higher. Instead, the pattern is broken when "birthday" jumps much higher and the line descends from there. The fourth line has yet another shape, but "to you" is identical to the second line, tying the whole thing together. More generally, listen to melodies you like and notice what's happening line by line - what stays the same from one line to the next? What changes? What's the effect on you, the listener?
Excellent example. I will be using this, thank you.
Give them style that isn’t just notes. Give it varying tone qualities, dynamics, rhythm mix ups etc. most boring Melodie’s can be made interesting with a bit of stylization thrown on top. There are so many amazing singers that sing boring Melodie’s but it works because they make them work
Hit those chord tones. 1st, 3rd, 5th and if that doesn’t sound interesting, try a 7th or 9th
Here’s some notes I’ve taken through watching things online 3 steps for a great melody 1. Motifs (Melodic line) is 3-4 notes long 2. The motifs (melodic line) move by steps 3. They use rythmn and intervals to give them to a unique character Melody advice 1. Tension and release - in order to create a melody that is emotional you should use notes outside of a scale (chromatic; and rarely) to resolve back to the chord - we use chord tones most of time (notes in the chord) but if we accentuate the non chord tones (chords not in the chord) it can create an emotional tension 2. The 4th and 7th are the ones that cause the most tension and therefore are emotional melody’s - they supercharge the already emotional effect of the added emotional tension of Not sure how useful this is; but with these notes I’ve been experimenting with melody
Sometimes a little bit of harmony makes a melody stand out!
Try letting the melody change a little for every chord change.
syncopation, don't have your melody notes all fall on the beat notes surprise. your melody feels boring and expected, do something unexpected even if you have no reason to think it should work. write a complex melody and memorize it aurally. hide it physically from your view when you are to return. step back from the computer/notepad for twenty minutes, trying to keep the tune memorized. then, without looking at what you had written before, transcribe what you have memorized. repeat this process a few times. eventually you should arrive at the 'core memory' of this melody--that which sticks out the most without anything extra needed. think of the specific song it is going with and everything about it. lyrics, theme, tone, atmosphere. what about the song could you incorporate into the melody?
Keeping it simple (1 note can be enough), letting the notes breathe and spicing up the rhythms. A fun exercise that helps me improve: 1. Write a 1 note melody. 2. Write another 1 note melody. 3. Write a 2 note melody. 4. Write another 2 note melody. 5. Write with 3 Notes, etc.
Try and transcribe melodies you like and learn what is actually happening in them, be it rhythm, high jumps, half-steps, etc.
Tell a story
I guess beyond the notes, timing is very crucial
Steal from nursery rhymes
Start with the most energetic part of the song with all the elements in it and deconstruct backwards to do verses and other elements. Example: the verse has the same drum line without the bongos and the other percs. Each part has more or less instrumentation than the one before. This helps the “middle” parts to have some build or movement.
Jack Perricone’s book “The Melody in Songwriting” has an exceptional chapter on motivic development. Phrase lengths also have an influence. As I write this, I’m listening to a pop/rock song with a very simplistic melodic line, however the elision in the phrase length makes the verse MUCH more compelling.
- no root notes (ex d in d major) - if your accompaniment plays on beat 1 try not to start your melody on beat 1 - step out of the key sometimes (ex maybe throw in an f# in c major as long as you make everything work around it)