Melody-Writing

i agree with lights wing.i dont know about coughs or sneezes but once you can hear a rythum,no matter where you hear it,and you understand its implications and its quality ,you can use it .my teacher told me a story about one of the great composers ,i am not sure exactly who it was,but the peolple that lived in the church dormitories were woken up by someone banging on the wall and when they went to see what it was ,they found the composer slaping his hands on the wall trying to find a new rhytum for his composition.

rhythum is the most brutal forces in music.it is like a volume control.if you give a dissonant tone less rhythmic duration you effectively dampen its effect,like turning the volume down.if you put that dissonance on the off beat ,that furthur adds to its dampening.

rhythum is so underestimated by many people.

the reason why we learn in counter point to put the dissonance on the off beat or as a suspension gliding over the down beat is because dissonance is the salt and pepper of a composition.if you put too much salt and pepper in your soup you ruin it, but just enough and it adds to the richness of the whole.

dont get me wrong though ,many modern compositions are overwhelmingly dissonant,but you cant teach a student to abuse the salt and pepper before he knows how to make a good soup.

I personally also have a hard time writing melodies. My greatest advice is that if you have a few melodies, but you like them a lot, use them alot. The first theme I ever used for a Kyrie I've reused as either part of a solo or the ritornello in at least 3 concertos, and I've reworked it into a fugue. I suppose many people might think that as me not being able to come up with something, and you're probably right, but don't forget that even the great Handel and Bach had writer's block at many times, and had to reuse past stuff. (you'll find that I mention those two a lot)

Take a walk...

That's all it really takes fo me, once I establish a certain pace, melody at the very least pops up and starts going on. You might find that the weather that you're walking through or the temperature will affect the style of music you write...

There's only one problem with that for me... when i walk i don't revisit any existing theme, so it all gets lost as soon as i stop walking, you might use a voice recorder or something though if you don't mind looking rather stupid.

I hope this helps and I'm sorry if it doesn't.

-Jon

Schostakovich said very important thing to Prof.Krzysztof Meyer , he said that people can learn harmony , contrepiont and other techniques... but melody they got from god !!!

and Shostakovich was atheist !!!

What I do is go sit down at the piano, Play completely random notes, then I add chords to the notes I played, I work on some harmony then see how it sounds. If I like it, I keep it. If I hate it, I just change the notes around a bit.

~Brad~

Melody can be discouraging, because there's no way to consistently come up with good ones. There's no formula. There are characteristics we can observe about good melodies, but following those characteristics doesn't guarantee the melody you create will be any good.

I've gotten discouraged countless times, feeling like I've nothing original to offer the musical world, just because I can't seem to come up with good melodies on a regular basis. And then, days later, I'll stumble on something and I'll be amazed at it. And anyway, who's to say that what I think is bad won't be brilliant to someone else? ;)

Yeah, everyone raises valid points here. As for me, I do one of two things here when writing music (and in order of how I do them).

1: I listen to other works, hum along, pick out parts I really like, and think about why I like them... then I try to imitate it on Finale... then I look at it in detail, and get ideas from it. From there, I have a melody and possibly a harmony.

Songs I listen to mainly: Phantom of the Opera songs, Incredibles songs, songs for marching band (the shows "Rise and Fall of Rome" and "Reflections" come to mind immediately), and One-Winged Angel (lol, I love this song... even played it on the piano and recorded myself playing it once... somewhere on YouTube).

2: Improv on the piano. I can improv a melody and harmony at the same time on the piano. Like, I can sit down and just make a song on the spot, complete with left hand harmonies, and possible intervals in the right hand. Although, my songs are usually slow (gives me time to think XP) and in a minor key.

3: I RARELY do this... if I'm truly stuck, I write a bassline. Like, I'll go measure by measure, picking chords. Like, I'll do this. 1st: Gm, 2nd: Gm, 3rd: Dm, 4th: Gm (1st and 2nd beats), E (3rd and 4th beats)... then I'll listen to the harmony, and start humming around with it, trying to get a melody in my head to fit the harmony. I think I've only done one song like that.

I picked up a way now. When I need a good melody I'll sit and listen to a song that has a similar mood to the song that I wish to write, and then steal little concepts from it. And then I do it again with another song, and adapt each part to match the other, again and again until my minds on automatic and pulls out ideas of its own. When I'm done editting its not at all close to the original song, and it still fits the mood you need. Generally works for me at least.

Pick a scale or make one up :P and play it 200 times each getting louder and louder every time then once you hit 200 play it 20 more times getting softer and softer. You don't have to count, just estimate.. I'm exxagerating a little bit, but still it is required you play the scale of your song many, many, many times to get it into your head and let it become permanent and the only scale you think in, then write the song, then use another scale for your next song. :) You can use multiple scale during one song, which is definitely what I do, I may even switch keys five times in ten seconds for effect, but there are different kinds of songs.

1st: Gm, 2nd: Gm, 3rd: Dm, 4th: Gm

Just start writing SOMETHING.

Don't worry about main themes, dominants, and all that rubbish. Just get some dots on the page. If your melody sucks then forget about it. Your next piece will be much better.