melody writing

I will try my hand once more at suggesting an exercise.

Since I saw mention of this in another thread, I thought it might be an idea to try this exercise out.

The goal is to write a brief melody (8-12 measures) and to privilege a particular interval.

NO ACCOMPANIMENT IS TO BE WRITTEN, NOR CHORDS.

This is a monophonic exercise.

For example, one could write a melody where the second, in all its incarnations, has "center stage", or the third, or 4th, etc..

The goal is not to write a melody where only that interval is used, but one where that interval receives particular care and is the focus of the melodic development.

For example, a melody devoted to 2nds containing nothing but scalar passages comprised of 2nds can not be said to bring attention to the 2nd, since it loses its identity when it is blended into those scalar passages.

Similarly, using whatever target interval one has chosen only on the last beat of each measure will tend to deflect the focus as well. Strong beat versus weak beat is an important consideration with this exercise.

things to watch out for when writing these melodies (or any melodies, really):

1. repeated notes get tedious. if they are part of a motif that is one thing, but returning continuously to the same note during a long phrase tends to make the ear lose interest

2. build to a climax. even if it IS a short phrase, it should feel like it has a "high point".

3. a sense of harmony. a single line should still IMPLY a harmonic base. the listener should feel that invisible harmony supports the melody.

4. compound melody. this is a wonderful tool when dealing with a single line of melody, and it helps create a sense of harmony without actually adding voices.

as a final note:

as one of my professors once said "if you finish this exercise in an hour, you didn't spend enough time on it".

this exercise should be the balancing of inspiration with careful thought. no one gets marks for "beautiful melody" if the concept of the intervalic spotlight is not met.

I also highly encourage people to critique each others' work on this. only by examining other peoples' work can you truly understand where there are weaknesses and then be able to translate that to your own work. as much care should be put into the critique of another work as you put into the creation of your own work.

Here it is ! :toothygrin:

I hope to be a not too bad student ! It was really fun actually ! ehehe More exercices !? I should tell to my boyfriend - who wanna compose - to do these exercices !! OF COURSE... you'll see that the second minor is the star here !

Exercice pour forum.mid

Here it is ! ;)

I hope to be a not too bad student ! It was really fun actually ! ehehe More exercices !? I should tell to my boyfriend - who wanna compose - to do these exercices !! OF COURSE... you'll see that the second minor is the star here !

très bien réussi!

j'aurais juste une suggestion - évite d'écrire les syncopes comme dans la première mesure "croche noir deux doubles". Question de clarté, il serait mieux d'utiliser une croche liée à une autre que la seule noir. Si c'était une séquence de syncopes, ca serait different.

very well done!

my only minor quibble is notational - I'd avoid writing the syncopation in the first measure as "eighth - quarter - sixteenths". Just as a matter of ease of reading, it would have been better to actually write out the tied eighths rather than the quarter. If it was a sequence of syncopations it would be different.

This was an excellent rendition, using 2nds is actually one of the harder choices.

Maybe the grace note thirds might have been better served as 2nds as well?

You're right... it a last moment change that I haven't thought to change. It was actually syncops at first for I disorganised the rythme after a second thought. The 5th mesure is also not well written. I should have written dotted-eight and [16th tied with a eight].

You should have seen that the melody is a transposed retrograde* (slightly ornemented) also !... but I guess it would have been nice to transpose it only a semi-tone instead of a minor third... let's say that minor third and minor seconds are both Stars here... eheh ;) Also... it is composed of the retrogradation of the BACH motive along with a four half tones descending chromatically at a second voice ! eheh -- just realised the BACH afterwhile.

So... that was fun !... actually in 8 years of university composition it's an exercice I guess I've never done - or almost not. Thanks Qccowboy ! I hope other people will take up the challenge !!! Don't be shy ;) We're here to learn and to work !

* Retrograde means that you take the same intervals but reading them from the end to the beginning.

Let's see now with the corrections... !?!

Here's mine. Sorry, I only spent 10 minutes on it. I hope time spent wasn't part of the excersise.

That could be cool if people sent a picture of the sentence, like I've done... I read better on a score than by ear ;)

So fun ! Maybe I shouldn't waste all my day on this but here is a second one !!! :sadtears: Much more minor third than seconds here... but still... it's a brother to the first one !

Exercice pour forum2.mid

not sure if this is exactly what you are talking about but it was fun anyway.

The centre od attention is the perfect fifth and obviously it's inversion the perfect forth.

Thanks, Mark

tr

Yeah, I'm not sure I'm getting the point of this excersise either. But here's another composed in less than an hour.

Privileged interval : Diatonic 4th.

melody.mid