# How to write an effective melody



## Akarin (Jan 16, 2019)

Hey all. I've just written one of my processes to create an effective melody:



Do you have any tips and tricks to share?


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## Mornats (Jan 16, 2019)

That was great. Nice and easy to follow and explained the process very well. The audio examples progressed from the basic chord progression to a nice little piece at the end. Nothing seemed like a huge step in between. Cheers!


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## Akarin (Jan 16, 2019)

Mornats said:


> That was great. Nice and easy to follow and explained the process very well. The audio examples progressed from the basic chord progression to a nice little piece at the end. Nothing seemed like a huge step in between. Cheers!



Thanks! A lot is missing (obviously) but I'm a big fan of the quick tips that get you an instant, applicable result. Even if it's only a starting point.


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## Mornats (Jan 16, 2019)

The bit about adding in a snare to set the rhythm of the melody was a very good tip that I've never tried before so I'll using that in future for sure.


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## Akarin (Jan 16, 2019)

Mornats said:


> The bit about adding in a snare to set the rhythm of the melody was a very good tip that I've never tried before so I'll using that in future for sure.



I don't do it anymore... :-D I directly reach for a patch that I plan to use as the main melodic element. For example, a cool sounding rhythm on snare doesn't translate well in instruments with a slow attack like a trombone. But I used it a ton in the past, it got me in a different mindset when thinking about rhythm for a melody.


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## DANIELE (Jan 16, 2019)

How you could do with melodies built on longer notes, you don't feel the rhythm with long paced notes!


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## JohnG (Jan 16, 2019)

Just copy from Mozart. What's he gonna do, sue you?


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## Wally Garten (Jan 16, 2019)

JohnG said:


> Just copy from Mozart. What's he gonna do, sue you?



I hear his melodies have too many notes, though.


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## JohnG (Jan 16, 2019)

Wally Garten said:


> I hear his melodies have too many notes, though.



So true! I just use every third note. Oscar buzz, anyone???


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## ed buller (Jan 16, 2019)

JohnG said:


> Just copy from Mozart. What's he gonna do, sue you?


no but Andrew Lloyd Webber Might !

best

ed


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## Akarin (Jan 16, 2019)

JohnG said:


> Just copy from Mozart. What's he gonna do, sue you?



This! And then copy-strike everyone using these melodies on YouTube, claim them as your own. Profit.


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## Saxer (Jan 16, 2019)

I had the Toto-Africa melody in mind when listening to these chords 

Anyway... well done!


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## Akarin (Jan 16, 2019)

Saxer said:


> I had the Toto-Africa melody in mind when listening to these chords
> 
> Anyway... well done!



OH FFS! You are totally right... ...and by just mentioning the name, I have it stuck in my head, now. That's melody writing done right (but hell it's annoying.)


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## Saxer (Jan 16, 2019)

Akarin said:


> (but hell it's annoying.)


No, it's not. You came out with another melody! That's what counts.


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## Akarin (Jan 16, 2019)

Saxer said:


> No, it's not. You came out with another melody! That's what counts.



Can't even remember it now. I only have Toto in my head. So, let me pay you back on this one: Super Mario!


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## PeterN (Jan 16, 2019)

Nice layout.

(Sorry Im the guy against the tide, so here we go)

Its interesting that our major composers are aware of it, that to actually find the melody and chords, you need to throw your life on the line. Or at lest go out and encounter fate. Fate is among most important things for a composers, its sort of ”the language” that creates melodies. Its the same fate that creates words for the poet.

Modern people are fateless thats why music sucks these days. Go get fate, you get the melody,


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## RAdu (Jan 16, 2019)

PeterN said:


> Nice layout.
> 
> (Sorry Im the guy against the tide, so here we go)
> 
> ...


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## PeterN (Jan 16, 2019)

RAdu said:


>



There will be no great poet learning poetry verses from studying grammatics. The great poet goes in search for fate. Same goes for the great composer.

This is esoteric information on melodies mate. It can be taken further also. Kind of like tantra. But for the modern musician even the basics on espterics will be too complicated. Its the zeitgeist now, high water everywhere.


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## Akarin (Jan 16, 2019)

PeterN said:


> There will be no great poet learning poetry verses from studying grammatics. The great poet goes in search for fate. Same goes for the great composer.
> 
> This is esoteric information on melodies mate. It can be taken further also. Kind of like tantra. But for the modern musician even the basics on espterics will be too complicated. Its the zeitgeist now, high water everywhere.



Ok... I'm kinda lost!


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## mikeh-375 (Jan 16, 2019)

PeterN said:


> There will be no great poet learning poetry verses from studying grammatics. The great poet goes in search for fate. Same goes for the great composer.
> .


 
and we (the mere mortals) like Serendipity too...….or perhaps there's a fate in that as well.

Now... Rubato...there's a word I don't see often around these parts. A great tune often has this quality in feel and performance and using it is also a great way to thwart those pesky last minute edit changes sometimes. Ask JW, as he conducts to wipes, he knows all about rubato, it is one reason his tunes and music are so….errmm...musical. It's no coincidence he doesn't use a computer!


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## PeterN (Jan 16, 2019)

mikeh-375 said:


> and we like Serendipity too...….or perhaps there's a fate in that as well.
> 
> Now... Rubato...there's a word I don't see often around these parts. A great tune often has this quality in feel and performance and using it is also a great way to thwart those pesky last minute edit changes sometimes. Ask JW, as he conducts to wipes, he knows all about rubato, it is one reason his tunes and music are so….errmm...musical. It's no coincidence he doesn't use a computer!



This approach on music as mathematics......what to say. Is poetry approached as mathematics?

(Sorry OP, just skip my rant, ignore it, its sort of a rant here, like a low frequency or something)


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## mikeh-375 (Jan 16, 2019)

Not maths Peter, just feelings - as a performer feels the music so too the composer as they write.
However, there might well be poetry in maths!!!!


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## jbuhler (Jan 16, 2019)

PeterN said:


> Nice layout.
> 
> (Sorry Im the guy against the tide, so here we go)
> 
> ...


I was kind of with you until your last paragraph, and its desperate longing for a lost golden age. I would also say the knowledge in the post is more simplified than esoteric. It makes sense for it to be simplified because its aim is pedagogical. And it results in something that is passable as music. The risking fate, yes that is important too, especially in making art, modeling a life worth living. But often one wants to work a bit on technique before risking everything without a net.


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## PeterN (Jan 16, 2019)

jbuhler said:


> I The risking fate,



You get a quick reply from a guy who didnt go to sleep on time. First I apologize to OP, he did lot of work on website, and kindly shares his knowledge, and doesnt really deserve me making noise around. I probably need a break from here, so stand out me a day or two yet - sorry.

So.... just a word on the ”risking” fate. Not really, more in terms of ”fate of being a human”. I mean the fate of being a human is disappearing, it didnt use to be like this. Fate has been taken from us, yes its still around, but its sort of one of those butterflies you only see once in a while. It can be found and chased though, and maybe thats something artists should persuade. Fate gives melodies for music and words for poets. Then why not. Sure it can involve risks, but the risk is not the aim, the aim is to encounter human fate.

Nite.


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## Chr!s (Jan 16, 2019)

Good article. 

For me, the rhythm and structure of the melody are my main concerns. I always bring up to people that every iconic melody can be recognized by its rhythm alone.


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## mikeh-375 (Jan 17, 2019)

PeterN said:


> Fate gives melodies for music and words for poets.
> Nite.



Naahhh Pete... self discovery through learning and hard work, or just natural ability will reveal your inner music if it is there. I suppose you could call someone's inclination to study and/or feel (without study) music, fate - but I guess you mean something a little more esoteric. I find it's best to keep things simple when it comes to the creative act because it is hard enough without any ontology or teleology messing with your head.

Back to the OP's thread, a good melody can also lead you to emotional highs and lows by exploiting melodic intervals, repetitive motifs, motivic development, and of course a harmonic structure that supports or perhaps dictates the peaks and troughs. Don't forget too, expressive techniques like suspensions and especially notes that go against the grain of the harmony. Articulations like crescendo and diminuendo should also be factored in as well as sudden dynamic jumps, accents etc.
Personally, I, like a lot of you probably, find that these facets of melodic writing come quite naturally as I write and are often inherent in the music at first bloom. Interestingly @PeterN, have I come around to your thinking? There is often a sense of inevitability about this process, is that the sort of fate you mean?..


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## PeterN (Jan 17, 2019)

mikeh-375 said:


> Naahhh Pete... self discovery through learning and hard work, or just natural ability will reveal your inner music if it is there. I suppose you could call someone's inclination to study and/or feel (without study) music, fate - but I guess you mean something a little more esoteric. I find it's best to keep things simple when it comes to the creative act because it is hard enough without any ontology or teleology messing with your head.
> 
> Back to the OP's thread, a good melody can also lead you to emotional highs and lows by exploiting melodic intervals, repetitive motifs, motivic development, and of course a harmonic structure that supports or perhaps dictates the peaks and troughs. Don't forget too, expressive techniques like suspensions and especially notes that go against the grain of the harmony. Articulations like crescendo and diminuendo should also be factored in as well as sudden dynamic jumps, accents etc.
> Personally, I, like a lot of you probably, find that these facets of melodic writing come quite naturally as I write and are often inherent in the music at first bloom. Interestingly @PeterN, have I come around to your thinking? There is often a sense of inevitability about this process, is that the sort of fate you mean?..



What we see now going on is music taken from its creative sources, and the conception of music as an art - and the composer as an artist - evolving to something way more mechanical and materialistic. It is the main approach on this forum, no problem with that, however we can already see how this is evolving. To AI taking over. So to sum it down, or up, it will be artists vs ai. That is artist intelligence vs artificial intelligence. The strenghts and advantages of the artist will be creativity and human fate. The strenghts and advantages of AI will be numerous.


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## PeterN (Jan 17, 2019)

In conclusion, you might want to ask yourself if you are an artist or a mechanic. If you are the artist, theres a ton of literature and tradition how artists create. Not too mystical, but indeed, you can dive deeper too. Even so deep some get lost there.


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## mikeh-375 (Jan 17, 2019)

too true re AI.
Music if it is to be sincere has to stem from knowledge of one's own sensibilities. For me, that was achieved through intense study and practice, it might well be different for others. But without a sense of personal discovery, however you achieve it, pressing buttons and utilising AI is pretty soulless and anathema to the definition of art as a response to the human condition.
I consider myself a creative artist because I know myself and am faithful to the music I hear unaided by the digital realm....God that sounds sooo poncy.


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## Akarin (Jan 17, 2019)

mikeh-375 said:


> too true re AI.
> Music if it is to be sincere has to stem from knowledge of one's own sensibilities. For me, that was achieved through intense study and practice, it might well be different for others. But without a sense of personal discovery, however you achieve it, pressing buttons and utilising AI is pretty soulless and anathema to the definition of art as a response to the human condition.
> I consider myself a creative artist because I know myself and am faithful to the music I hear unaided by the digital realm....God that sounds sooo poncy.



Actually, my day job is in AI. I hear a lot of fallacies when it comes to this subject, mostly due to a lack of understanding of what AI is. There won't be any competition between AI and artists. Artists will simply go the way of the dodos. Not today, not next week and certainly not because of things like Orb composer or Aiva which are too simplistic in their approach... ...but 10 years from now, the game will be unfair for the humans.


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## mikeh-375 (Jan 17, 2019)

I doubt that Akarin, I'm sure there will always be folk who want to express themselves unaided as it were. Art can be a deep desire too...


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## DANIELE (Jan 17, 2019)

PeterN said:


> This approach on music as mathematics......what to say. Is poetry approached as mathematics?
> 
> (Sorry OP, just skip my rant, ignore it, its sort of a rant here, like a low frequency or something)



Maybe you don't know mathematics, math could be a great form of art, math could be poethic. It's all about how much you know it and how you approach it that give you the meaning of it.
Mathematics is in music and music is in mathematic, they are not separate things.

Music is a mathematical manipulation of physical reality around us and this is beautiful, this is poethic.

I'd like to say more but the language still limit me.


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## Akarin (Jan 17, 2019)

mikeh-375 said:


> I doubt that Akarin, I'm sure there will always be folk who want to express themselves unaided as it were. Art can be a deep desire too...



I don't disagree with that at all... But contrary to now, these people won't be needed nor will they have value (as in "will people want to pay for what they do?")


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## mikeh-375 (Jan 17, 2019)

Akarin said:


> I don't disagree with that at all... But contrary to now, these people won't be needed nor will they have value (as in "will people want to pay for what they do?")


Possibly, but let's not mix up genres of music. In concert music, I'm sure there will always be a demand for the personality of a human and its plausible that AI could make it there too. Interestingly, with the breakdown of tonality in concert music, it does open the door for AI, because sometimes the complexity of modern music is difficult to grasp on a human level and that complexity could be exploited by AI and whose to say it wouldn't be art.


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## Akarin (Jan 17, 2019)

mikeh-375 said:


> there will always be a demand for the personality of a human



Not if a human can't tell the difference. It will simply become niche. A bit like these self-professed audiophiles who don't blink when buying $1k platinum-plated USB cables because "it sounds better."


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## mikeh-375 (Jan 17, 2019)

indeed. I nearly fell for that sort of patter over an HDMI cable. Modern concert music has been niche for almost a century, so no change there, just fantastic music.


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## KallumS (Jan 17, 2019)

Someone once told me that an easy way to create a melody is to think of a sentence and copy it to a melody. For example, if I thought of saying "what a beautiful day" each syllable would be a note and the notes would roughly follow the ups and downs of each syllable. I thought that was a great tip.


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## Akarin (Jan 17, 2019)

KallumS said:


> Someone once told me that an easy way to create a melody is to think of a sentence and copy it to a melody. For example, if I thought of saying "what a beautiful day" each syllable would be a note and the notes would roughly follow the ups and downs of each syllable. I thought that was a great tip.



It is the first time I hear this... ...and it's amazing how much sense it makes! Typically the kind of tips I'm looking for. I'm repeating "what a beautiful day" in my head and imagining the musical phrasing, the color. Can't wait to try!


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## Mornats (Jan 17, 2019)

This discussion has taken an interesting turn!

With regards to AI, I'm sure there are a whole load of people wanting to create music for the sake of creating it (I'm an amateur and fall into this category). So whilst AI may get any jobs I might have aspired to, it won't take away my desire to create and that human-created content will be out there and won't go away.

Back to the lesson though, I'm going to use this technique to practice writing melodies from chord progressions outside of my usual song-writing process. I think it will be a very good exercise.


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## Fry777 (Jan 17, 2019)

KallumS said:


> Someone once told me that an easy way to create a melody is to think of a sentence and copy it to a melody. For example, if I thought of saying "what a beautiful day" each syllable would be a note and the notes would roughly follow the ups and downs of each syllable. I thought that was a great tip.



I heard that once too but had forgotten about it, it is a great tip


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## pbattersby (Jan 17, 2019)

Akarin said:


> Hey all. I've just written one of my processes to create an effective melody



I like your article. Some good tips and examples in there. For those discussing creating a melody from a sentence or a speech, this is where I first heard that idea:


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## Akarin (Jan 17, 2019)

pbattersby said:


> I like your article. Some good tips and examples in there. For those discussing creating a melody from a sentence or a speech, this is where I first heard that idea:




This was really fun to watch! Thanks for sharing.


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