Intelligence in melodies

Some composers are known for their intelligent melodies. What makes an melody 'intelligent'? It has to do with the harmonic direction, but there's probebly more to it. How can you dissect a melody and conclude it's intelligent in a degree? I'm curious to hear some thoughts on this topic.

Well there are plenty "rules" in classical training concerning the melody, and what a good melody should sound like and be composed of. The main thing are obviously intervals and the relations between them. Voice leading, harmony, "main" notes, ornaments... In western music it is pretty much focused around "perfect intervals" (e.g. fifths and fourths). Something I'm really discovering right now is that rhythm has a HUGE role in a good melody. I'm starting to think that a good rhythm of the melody is more important than the tone choices we make. You have to make the melody "breathe". That way it's somehow inherently more beautiful to us humans, it becomes something alive. And it shares it emotions with us.

Just my two cents...

This is an interesting question, one for which I have no answer, but I look forward to seeing this dialogue. I know a good melody when I hear it, but I'm not sure I could isolate just what it is that makes it so.

To be clear: I'm speaking of melodies seperate from the vertical harmonies. So just single lines. And I'm speaking about intelligence, not beauty. I think beauty is to subjective, but intelligence is perhaps a bit easier to analyse.

Well I think that beauty and intelligence are closely related... I don't think you can take random scraps of music, the worst melody you've ever heard and try to find something intelligent in it. Melody cannot be ugly and intelligent or beautiful and unintelligent. And intelligence can be subjective also... Intelligence is still highly unexplored, one might call a person intelligent because he is good in maths, other can call him intelligent because one can notice the differences in two pictures. So I cannot imagine what would make a melody intelligent. Music is not precision science (although some people have theories it is). It's an art form. Can you truly say that Michaelangelo's David is intelligently cut? That brush strokes on Monalisa are smart? Of course you could, but that would mean that the artist found a way to save on marble and paint, use it intelligently, do this with a brush in order to get a line like that. But in music, you can say, there he uses an interval of sixth lowers it down a whole tone, to the dominant in order to get a perfect cadence. Of course that is smart, but it's also common sense. But without a greater picture, the context, the harmonies, the intention, a row of notes, or intervals doesn't really mean anything. They are just random tones.

So, one would have to analyze the whole intention of creating music in the first place in order to come to a conclusion what would make a piece intelligent. And in order to truly realize what an intelligent piece of music is, one would have to first realize what beautiful is. And what it is not. And that is as we said earlier highly subjective.

To sum up: We as humans think of beauty as something that is logical, natural and traditional. But also new and refreshing. And we think of intelligence a discipline of thought and logical reasoning. And there we see, what beauty and intelligence have in common. Logic.

A good melody, beautiful or intelligent has to be logical. From the first note, it has to go trough a series of expected yet new directions, depending on what feeling a composer wishes to convey to the listener.

Can someone elaborate on what "intelligence" means, in this context?

:blink:

Can someone elaborate on what "intelligence" means, in this context?

:blink:

I used the term intelligent, because I've heard people using this word to discribe the melodies a certain composer composed. I remeber someone said it about Mozart, in general. So the best solution for me would be to ask the guy who made the remark, but I can't remember who said it.

I quess why I started this tread is to try to find some views on what could constitute as my personal definition of intelligence in this context.

Fanthom said logic and ties this to the (harmonic) direction. In my opening post I mentioned that to, so I quess that one is going in my defenition.

So, are their people who think intelligence in melody is something different from, or more then logical directions?

I think that in classical music the intelligent melodies are the melodies which follow the classical rules, all of them, and still manage to produce inanovative anc creative musical lines within the limits of the classical rules which is something very difficult to achive and demand great abillities of creativity and imagination.

Hmm, cool question! I hadn't really wondered this particular question before, although I have given thought sometimes to the intellectual aspirations of different compositions. In my small experience with music so far, I've found that many pieces, especially apparent to me in contemporary pieces, aspire to be a logical (comprehensive) whole that expresses concepts and ideas in the most eloquent way possible, even if that concept/idea is to appear completely illogical and incomprehensive. In this context, the intent (of the composer, the piece and its performance) seems to play an important part in deciding what sounds should be made/heard in the piece, and I wonder if the intelligence of a melody is judged by how well it accomplishes its intent (i.e., what the composer wants it to do). Can intelligence be measured objectively? My current view is that if the melody accomplishes what the composer intended it to do within the context of the piece, it can be deemed intelligent and indeed successful.

Short answer: It's bullshit by people who want to appear smart.