Melodies

Well... see here's the thing... I like my music to have clear, memorable, beautiful melodies... but at the moment... all decent melodies are avoiding my grasp...

Any suggestions? I am having no luck... lol

Steal some from Tchaik. No one will notice. :thumbsup:

Start humming or wait for inspiration.

I think any melody is memorable if you set up the piece correctly. Not necessarily pounding the melody into the listeners head by constantly repeating it, but with proper counter melodies and supportive harmonies, anything can be memorable.

my approach to writing melodies is to improvise in my favorite scales and thus over time develop a sense of how to sequence the scale's intervals in order to get different effects. During that process I tend to come across melodies that I like or find interesting and then I, sometimes after tweaking the melody, compose a piece around it. Once I get the ball rolling, I really enjoy improvising over a harmony or another melody until I play something that I feel sounds good and suits the piece.

But I wouldn't say that I write the most outstanding melodies. For that I think you need a certain talent and a lot of persistence. The best approach may be to try to be unique, that way your melody stands literally beyond comparison.

I come from a songwriting background and therefore I almost always start composing the main melody in a singable manner. However, as I'm not much of a singer, I don't actually rely on my voice for melodies as I would only use the same few notes but I sing in my head as in my head, my voice has no technical limitations!

If I'm stuck, a few well chosen words, words which flow well and have a good inherent rhythm, may be a starting point to get the melody muse to come around...

Take a long walk alone in the woods. Seriously. If you invest an hour and a half hiking somewhere away from the distractions of civilization, by the time you are done you will have something bubbling through your head.

If you used to think the melody first and then the harmony, now think the harmony and build then melody according to it, if none ways work... start modifying one already written, if still not.... why don't you start praying... that could work:)

I second the whole taking a hike in the wilderness bit. Just make sure you have a moleskin or something to jot or record your humming. Also... I come up with my best melodic ideas in the shower. Unfortunately... they never LEAVE the shower.

I second the whole taking a hike in the wilderness bit. Just make sure you have a moleskin or something to jot or record your humming. Also... I come up with my best melodic ideas in the shower. Unfortunately... they never LEAVE the shower.

IN all honesty... I have a recorder outside my shower which I can put my arm out and press record and sing back. And, my phone records, do WHENEVER I have an idea, I just record it later. Usually that is the best option. You can always transcribe later, no need to waste writing it down.

My advice on melodies and i don't claim that i have the mother load of best but i do come up with what pleases and describes me and i think that's important.

I think you should look at life it self. look at your current situation. how would you describe your ongoing life with a melody? a big help if you can't answer it with your own melody is to answer it with your favorite composer who happend to comeup with one that just does the job. and that's a start.

truthfully, a "melody" is rarely something that comes to you in one single flash.

most composers had to work at getting those beautiful memorable melodies out.

let me give you one example of a rapturously beautiful melody:

it's a deceptively simple melody.

And when asked about it, Ravel admitted to working on it, painfully, measure by measure (his words). In other words, it did not come to him in one sitting.

Find an intervalic relationship you like. Start from there.

Develop your idea, note by note.

Build the arch of your thematic material.

Don't wait for "inspiration" to strike and hand you a tune on a silver platter.

Use your brain to compose.

I've taken to jogging to work on music ideas. Or rather, more correctly , when I jog I think of music. Also, after listening to good music for a while, ideas come easier. I guess I'm tuned in...

But in general, I feel you pain. Doens't it seem like all the good melodies are already taken?!

In reference to Cowboy's statement about simple ideas ( and how hard they are!)--I think of Schubert's Quartet #14 and the seond movement opening theme. Very simple, but with much sticking power--and the things he gets out of it!....

this explains alot regarding how to compose anything-

YouTube - Bill Evans 1966 Interview

this is a very rare interview with of the finest pianists and composers in jazz history-Bill evans, he describes there why most players/compsers actually tend to go to sophistication and vagueness rather than building a solid base of what they are trying to say, he is just brilliant, and he shows examples on the piano of how to do it.

Thanks for the advice. :) I'll check those youtube links out.

On a side note...

:horrified: What the blazes happened? Where is QC???

Think about it, a memorable melody doesn't have to be complex, or even memorable.

Probably everyone in the world knows Beethoven's most famous 4 notes... of course i'm talking about the first 4 notes of his 5th symphony.

Alone, that melody isn't memorable at all, but the way he wrote it into the whole piece as a whole, well... everybody knows it.

Also look at John Williams's famous TWO notes... and please, let's not start a big discussion about John Williams. But it's the truth, Jaws wasn't THAT great of a movie, but the music, although simple (i mean, it's just two chromatic notes...) was writte just right so that it is a very memorable melody.

As for what I to come up with melodies, I usually go on a bike ride... Although I totaled my bike (the thing that switched gears (the de-railer) broke into little pieces :( ) so inspiration hasn't really struck me lately and it's angering me :angry:

When I feel uninspired, I sometimes find it helpful to limit myself using different parameters such as interval width: Recently I did an excercise from a counterpoint textbook where I wrote a series of melodies in which I could not write a leap larger than a third. While I initially found the rule to be quite restrictive, I think I also learned a lot and wrote some melodies that I don't think I could have thought of otherwise. For added fun, I wrote melodies for randomly selected instruments (using a Google search for "musical instrument" in combination with a random number generator); it forced me to write for instruments with which I was unfamiliar. I ended up harmonizing the melodies afterwards into very small (8 to 16 bar) pieces that perhaps one day might be useful in future work. I thought of this idea (thread) based on the results. I hope this is helpful!

Try listening to music that is the opposite of what you like, and find something you like in it.

Thanks for the suggestions :)

I guess I should point out that my main problem with melodies is when I'm trying to write pop ballads. Writing melodies comes a bit easier if I'm working on concert music on Sibelius. But when I'm at my keyboard, trying to write a pop ballad especially, that's when it gets really hard for me.

I've done it successfully before, but it always took me forever... let me think... four pop ballads in 9 years time... lol.

Buy windchimes and sit outside.

I'd hate to admit this, but looking back through my library of compositions, many of the best melodies I've written come with strong chord progressions. An awesome chord progression can suggest really great melodies, if you're happy going that route.

I should say, relying on the chord progression alone never really works... it's really half and half, one or the other would be meh, but together it's cash.

Listen to music and get inspired... but don't steal!!

I agree with all the people who state that not only the melody is important, but the way you set it up within the piece... in the dynamics, structure and harmonic passages. Sometimes you can make a simple and not so noteworthy melody really stick out by giving it just the appropriate bars within the piece. And it's really these kinds of passages I at often times enjoy the most in any given piece. Some short melody stuck within there somewhere.

But truth be told, I always have problems with "Main Themes" myself.