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First of all; best wishes for 2017! For my audition for pre-study at the conservatory with classical saxophone I played the Cinq Danses Exotiques by Jean Françaix. I fell in love with his music. On account of Françaix' music I composed 3 Melodies for Alto Saxophone and Piano, Opus 25 (Dutch: Drie Melodieën voor Altsaxofoon en Piano) today. Feedback and sharing your opinions would make me very happy! Kind regards, Maarten Bauer

Hey, I came across this site through the guy who made the "rhythm recycling" video, and that was very helpful, and I plan on using the technique in the future. I'm not sure how much help I'm going to get, because the genre of music I'm inquiring about is very simple, electronic based music, house music specifically for anyone who is familiar. I would say I have almost no music theory training; I have taken a semester at college that is about to end next week, and it has taught me tremendously about the basics of music. Its a theory/ear training class, and the ear training has been so helpful, I can now point out all the popular intervals, from a m2 all the way up to the P8. While the basics have helped me learn about how to write in a certain scale and what not, the problem I have is making a very "catchy" melody, and wanted to as you guys and girls about the following: 1. What makes a melody? (For example, when people build a melody, do you look at from the standpoint of "We'll ill go up a 5th here, down a minor 3rd here, then up a 4th, and return home") 2. Are melodies at all "technical"? for example, the C major scale is very technical, C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C. Do melodies have any technicalities to them? Like rules, or guidelines? Or is it purely a "feel it or dont feel it" type of deal? 3. How do you initially come up with a rhythm for your melody? I believe using the rhythm recycling will help me here, but anymore info can be helpful! The reason I'm asking these questions, is because I'm hoping someone can answer/tell me what I need to focus on when it comes to studying music. I will list examples below, but the type of music I'm interested if pretty simple, being based primarily on a single melody throughout the song. Is there anything anyone may suggest really studying to come to grips with this process? I've memorized the key signatures, my major and minor chords, and some basic ear training; is there something "study-able" that will help me understand and compose catchy melodies and "hooks"? Here are some examples of what I'm talking about, for all you classical musicians, please look past the sounds perse, as they are mostly synthesizers. I will tell you what time to skip to in each video so you dont have to listen to a genre of music you may not be fond of. If anyone helps, thank you SO much in advance. The melody starts right away, and at 1:34 it changes. Melody at 1:28, he brings in what i think are called a counter melody, or counter point at 3:00. The melody starts at 1:00 he actually samples the Penguin Cafe Orchestra for this one, either way great melody. Melody starts at 1:55 Melody starts at 2:00 Melody at 1:05.ANY insight on any of this would be greatly appreciated, if you would like to know the notes of each melody I can do a video playing each one, just let me know!! Thank you!