Contents
1. What is Melody?
First of all, I’m gonna check to what extent a music theory sees as a “melody”.
A Melody is a horizontal sequence of single notes that we see as a single “line”.
Here’s a famous nursery rhyme “London Bridge is Falling Down”. In this case the upper part is regarded as a melody, while the lower part is an “accompaniment”.
Counter-melody
Some of the accompaniment parts often play melodic phrases. Especially in rock, electronic music or hip-hop, it is common that impressive phrases are repeatedly played by guitars or synths along with the main vocal.
A secondary melody played simultaneously with a main melody is called a Counter-melody.
Since counter-melodies are also a kind of melody, the melody theory explained in this text can be applied to them as a matter of course.
Bassline
Sometimes the lowest part—the bass—plays a melodic phrase.
Especially in jazz bassists play “solo”s just like other instruments. Since the bass part, however, plays a crucial role in constructing chords, you should see bass lines as something different from what is called melodies. There’s a distinct theory for making a good base line, which is deeply related with chord theory.
Melody from Chords
Then, is there no melody in chord parts? In fact, there IS.
This is just a succession of chords one after another. But once your brain starts connecting the highest notes of each chord and perceived it as a single line, you’ll hear the melody of “London Bridge”.
The highest note of a chord is called a Top Note. The array of top notes can well be recognized as a melody. After all, any parts other than percussions will have some sort of “melody”, whether prominent or obscure. This means that the melody theory will be beneficial for the whole songwriting, not just in making the main melody part.
2. Contents of Each Chapter
The theory of melody is not as prevalent as chord theories so you may not yet imagine what’s inside so I’m gonna briefly introduce the contents of each chapter.
Ch.I : Terms and Concepts
As mentioned in the introduction part, one major role of music theory is to turn music into describable data, by verbalization or visualization.
So in chapter I, what we introduce first is the basic terms and concepts to describe the shapes of melodic progressions or the characters of notes.
Every note has its vertical position and horizontal connections and there are various curves that melody lines draw, each of which brings about distinct musical effect. We give names to them and offer some tools for analysis so that you can verbally handle them.
Ch.II/IV : Melody and Chord
Chapter II is the very important part where we talk about how a chord and a melody interact.
The melody of “London Bridge” starts with G note on a chord “C–E–G“. What effect does it have and what if you choose a different note? Such combinatorial analysis will be expanded in the chapter, by which the amount and the density of data you can get through melodic analysis will significantly increase.
Chapter IV also discusses this subject even further.
Ch.III : Scale Variations
In chapter III various scales are introduced. As you listened to several scales in preparation part, using different scales can bring totally different moods.
- Elegant classical scale
- Foreign ethnic scale
- Bluesy/jazzy scale
- Odd sounding scale
Such unique sounds cannot be achieved within just major/minor scales. You can expand your range of expression by knowing various scales.
Ch.V : Constructing Harmony
Chapter V is highly specialized. We thoroughly theorize the patterns for assigning a chord to a fixed melody.
This is a figure from Ch.V like “let’s make a list of chords possibly placed under the note C.” The theory developed here is very much advanced—for those who want to understand everything with theories.
Compared to the chord part, the chapter I-II of the melody part is relatively easy to learn and practically very useful nonetheless.
3. Theory and Intuition
You might feel reluctant to theorize melody making because, you know, it’s something that should spring up from your inside naturally and controlling it by theory seems so rigid that your intuition and creativity would be interfered with it.
True that in Classical harmony books some rules are introduced like “this note must go in this direction”, or in jazz theory books are “this note should not hold long on this chord” bla bla, which may really make you feel cramped, but in LMT “Theory should not get in the way of your decision” is the basic principle so don’t worry!
Road to Acquisition
The melody theory disassembles a melody into small parts such as pitch, length, position or connection in order to inspect elements individually; It’s like a tutorial for basketball shooting forms where the forms for your toes, knees, shoulders, arms, hands and fingers are explained one by one.
So the theory of melody sounds at first very simple and easy to understand. However, when you bring it into practice, it’s hard to take control of all the elements because a melody is a composite of these elements interlocked with each other.
As a result it can happen that you just end up with spontaneous songwriting without thinking from theoretical view. But it is OK—Merely having such analytical insights is of great worth. It’ll enhance your listening experience by helping you collect and store the data from songs, which will eventually improve your skills for writing melodies.
So please consider that understanding the contents in this text is not a goal, but a start on the path to the acquisition of the theory. Just as in sports understanding rational movements is essential to acquiring creative ideas, theory and creativity are one and indivisible in songwriting.
