My little knowledge on creating Melodies
Here is part two of my thoughts for song writers for the day. If you are wondering about song structure and other relevant topics to creating an energetic song look back at my previous postings to get some more food for thought.
Today i’m talking about melodies. It seems like when we approach the writing process we should already know what we want before applying any decision making or critical thinking. But i find myself struggling to formulate and captivating melody even when i’m 100% certain i have something in mind.
This is where theory and knowledge on the topic therein can have an immense effect on how efficiently and intuitively we can make our next favorite melody. Regardless of you knowledge, creating a great melody is just hard as creating a chord progression and strumming up transitions to ease the flow of your song only with muddied up guidelines and less defined “rules” if you will.
Melodies are made up of intervals which help depict the way in which your song moves and flows from one part to the next. (check out my song structure topic within my last post) Having a good idea on your structure will help you formulate the manner of your melodies and how the chords within should move based on which part of the song you are approaching. Every interval will effect your melody but theorists and professionals break this up into two main parts: Steps and Skips.
Steps are when your notes follow one another without pause clearly defining the movement between them in your melody as if though it is expected by the listener. This leaves them feeling fairly restrained but keeps each note bound to the previous keeping you moving ahead. Keeping your steps in small range from one another will make things a lot easier as its difficult to move widely with such little space for transition. If you are using a digital based piece of equipment you can feel free to exercise that wide stepping with octave bound steps or even moving in circles of fifths for example. But for the most part, this wide movement will be classified as a skip.
Where steps define restraint, steps provide freedom in that you have a wider range to move around in from note to note. Skips would be best noted in choruses as they break the listener away from the bound verse and chorus which provided the steps up to that breakaway. Providing nuance in your melodies with things like static motion (Where you continue one repetitive note rhythmically) can help provide a balance between restraint as well as freedom. And when mixed within your skips giving more of a colorful range this technique can deliver a grounding point sonically that keeps the listener focused in.
I hope this little tid bit helps. I’m still grasping the function of melodic progression and how each chord and note provide a specific function but for now, i’m giving you this. As i continue to learn i will continue to share my knowledge with you! IF you have any other hungers for song writing or need some help getting over a hump, check out my previous postings for more on writing!
-Andrew Giordanengo
-Audiohut