- Hi, I'm Gareth green, and we're going to consider
a question in this video, that many people would
like to know the answer to. What makes a great melody? Well I suppose it partly
depends on what your view of a great melody is, and a melody that one person likes, maybe another person
doesn't think anything of and that's how it is isn't it? But we're just going to think
it through a little bit, from a technical point of
view, in terms of construction, if you're wanting to write a melody, either because you're a composer, or because you have to
do something like this, for a music exam. And then we can to take a
look at a very famous melody, and just kind of think about well what makes this particular famous melody, a great melody. Okay, so I've got seven tips that I'd like to share
with you on this topic. And the first one is this, because I think it's often about planning. Lots of composers, when they
set about writing a melody, they just get going, and they start plotting
notes all over the place, in the hope that somehow
it'll all come out in the wash at the end. Well, if that's an inspiration
and it works for you, I'm not entirely knocking it, but usually there's some sense
in making some kind of plan. You don't want it to kind of
squeeze his inspiration out, that's the last thing you want to do, but working to a plan often helps things, turn out more successfully. So what do I mean by planning? Well, what I'm really
talking about is this, plan the structure, plus the phrase structure. Now, why am I putting those as
sort of two separate things? Well, it partly depends on how long your melody's going to be. Are writing a great big symphony here, or are we writing a short eight bar piece? It doesn't really matter, but plan the structure means, what's the overall shape
of this melody going to be when we look at the entirety of the piece. In other words, are we
going to be in binary form? So we've got an A section
followed by a B section. Conventionally in a binary form you have an A section that
starts in the tonic key, that usually modulates
to the dominant key. The B section starts in the dominant key, maybe uses some of the same
material from the A section, and eventually works its
way back to the tonic key. You can have an extended binary structure. So you've got this A section
you've got a B section, then towards the end of the B section, you refer back to your A section. Sometimes that makes the
B section a bit longer than the A section because of that. But is it going to be a binary structure? Is it going to be a ternary structure? Lots of melodies are written
with a ternary structure, an A B A structure. If you do A B A, is
the returning A section the same as the initial A section? Is it some kind of variation
on the original A section? Well that's all stuff that you can decide. Or maybe you've got a bigger structure, like a sonata form structure
or something like that. Or maybe you're writing a
different kind of piece, like you're trying to
write a fugue or something, well okay, but have some idea, what's the kind of external structure, what's the big picture if you like? And the reason I'm
putting phrase structure as a kind of subtitle as it
were there is to say well, that's more about the
internal structure of a piece, once I've decided on what
the external structure is going to be like, well,
what's the internal details. So if I'm writing just maybe a pretty short eight bar melody, am I having four bars in the first phrase and four bars in the second phrase? Then once I know that,
that helps me to plan how that's going to work. Is the first phrase going
to start in the tonic, and take me to the dominant key. The second phrase is going
to start in the dominant, then bring me back to the tonic key. Are we going to have
certain ideas that play out in both those phrases? Is it like a kind of questioning
and an answering phrase? Are they two completely
complimentary phrases? We can start to think about
the internal structure by doing that, obviously
if we've got a longer piece well we'll have to be thinking
in more detail about that. If you've got, say four
phrases of four bars, you're writing a sixteen bar structure, well, is the first
phrase going to come back as the last phrase? Or is maybe the first phrase coming back as the third phrase,
with independent second and fourth phrases? Lots of possibilities. But if you've got the structure there, it's going to help a lot. And I've always found it really helpful, when I'm writing to
start with a blank sheet, think about what the structure is going to be then to plan
the internal structure, and to blank out bars, and kind of sort of label it in some way so I've got a pretty good
idea where I'm going. When it comes to it, I'm often
quite flexible with that. I start with this structure
then I think, actually I've now decided that that's
going to be longer phrase, this is going to be a
shorter phrase to compensate, or now I'm pretty clear, this is how the melody looks, I think I need a four bar introduction at the beginning of it, or now I know how it's going to finish, I maybe want a four bar
coda at the end of it. I mean there are lots
of things you can do, you don't have to be rigid about it, but some initial planning, of structure and phrase structure, I would say is quite important. The second tip flows on from that, which is this, particularly if you're writing
in a conventional style, which is to plan the key structure. I mean, for one thing, if you don't plan the key structure, then there's always the danger that, you just write the
whole melody in one key, and that can get a bit
boring after a while, if it's just stuck in the
same key for the duration. And then people think well, why is this melody
sound a bit grim really? Because it just feels a bit stuck. So, what's the key structure going to be? Am I starting in the tonic key, going to the dominant key? Maybe moving on to the relative key? Coming back to the tonic key? So we've got some logical
progression through the key structure. Obviously, if you're writing
a piece that's atonal, then this doesn't apply. So these are kind of sort
of general principles, which you adapt to purpose. But it's kind of much
easier to do number two, after you've done number one, if you've got the structure
in place and you know what's happening, then you can map the
key structure onto it. If you're just sort of vaguely thinking well I might go to this key or that key, but you don't really know
what the structure looks like, it's difficult to sort of
make that part of the plan. Because then you can combine two with one, and you can think now that's the most
important central point here so I'm going to be in
this key by that point. Or I want to be back in the
tonic key by this point, and that will help you
write her a better melody. Okay, here's the third tip. And again, this is kind of if we're working in a
conventional sort of way, and it's write a melody that
has a clear harmonic plan. Okay. So a clear harmonic plan. Again if you're writing
an atonal piece, well, it's neither here nor there is it, but if you are writing
something that's diatonic, that's in an a key, well, it's quite good to
have a chord progression that fits in with what
you're doing melodically. If you just write a melody and it's got kind of random
notes all over the place, and then you're trying desperately
to fit the chords to it, you'll find all sorts
of difficulties arise. Like for example, you might have notes in the melody, that don't really work with
any chord in particular, or chord progression doesn't work, or you might find you've got one corner where the chords are having
to change really quickly, and then in the next bar you've got one chord for the whole bar. That sometimes can be an effective thing, it's what we call the harmonic rhythm, how often do the chords change. But it has a kind of logic
and a flow about that, it's always going to be better. So having some thought
for what's going on here, for example, if I'm in C major and I
decide I'm going to work with chord I and C, well
I could have a melody, that uses any of the notes
of that chord couldn't I, but I could also have a
melody that goes by step by using what we call
the inessential notes. So I've got a chord of C and I'm going C, D, E, D, C. Well C and E belong to the chord, D is what we call a passing note, we're just passing through it on the way between those two notes
that belong to the chord. I might just go up a note and come back, or go down a note and come back. Or I could do that with
any note of the chord. You can do loads of that. And those are called auxiliary notes. So you can use the harmony notes, notes that belong to the chord, you can use these passing notes, you can use these auxiliary notes, other ways of sort of decorating things if you like using
appoggiaturas for example, if you want to decorate
in that sort of way. But everything based around
a clear harmonic plan so that the chords and the melody kind of talk to each other, and there's some sense in
what's happening there. And you don't end up with a
whole load of funny chords, or progressions from one chord to another that don't really work very well. Or you end up writing chords that you'd never normally actually use. For example, thinking
at the end of a phrase in a conventional piece,
we normally have a cadence. So have we got a melody
that's going to allow for a perfect cadence or a plagal cadence or whatever we want to write. Or have we ended up with notes that don't fit any particular cadence. Chances are the melody won't work so well, if it doesn't follow a
harmonic plan that's strong. So you've got to sort of think about that. Now that's all part of the planning, then we kind of get on to
kind of the melody itself. And I'd suggest that you do
this, design the main ideas. In other words, you don't have to write the
whole melody straight away, but just sort of thinking, well, have I got some ideas here
that I really want to do. So for example, you might
want to do something with the notes of that C major chord. Well Mozart did that didn't he? So he started by doing that
in the C major piano sonata. So that could be an idea, for Mozart that's an idea
that comes up all the way through that movement. So what are the melodic ideas, maybe what are some of the rhythmic ideas, we're going to do as well? Are we going to have a scale run? That's another idea, it's got a different kind of energy, a different kind of character about it. So what are these ideas that
we're going to work with? That could be a good little motivic idea that would work particularly well if you were writing a melody
for the trumpet, for example. So thinking about the
instrument or instruments, for which you're writing, does this idea fit with that instrument? Is it what we call idiomatic? What are the ideas that I
really want to work with? So you can then begin to kind of stitch these ideas together. Okay, tip number five, when you're designing a melody, think about this, achieving
a balance between conjunct and disjunct movement. So what do I mean by that? Well conjunct movement, is when we have notes
next door to each other. So if you're kind of
doing something like this that's conjunct movement, if you're leaping, then
that's disjunct movement. So if you have a melody
that just goes up and down the scale at infinitum
it's pretty tedious. If you have a melody that
jumps all over the place it makes you feel quite ill after a while. So you don't want that
either, most good melodies are a balance between conjunct
and disjunct movement. So if you've written an
idea that has got lots of disjunct movement in it, think how can I follow that
with conjunct movement. If you notice, going back to Mozart, he starts off with this
slightly disjunct thing, but the next bit is all by step. Do you see that's conjunct movement. So having a sort of balance between that, and if you get kind of
one part of the phrase that's got plenty of disjunct movement, follow it with some conjunct
movement or vice versa. So, that's a useful thing,
because lots of people either leap around all over the landscape, or they just go by step. So that's a handy thing to
think about tip number five, conjunct and disjunct movement. And number six, is about
something we call voice leading. And again, particularly
when you're writing in a conventional style,
in a diatonic key, you just sometimes feel that certain notes want to go in a particular direction. So for example, if I play this and I ask you to sing the next note, most people around the world
are going to sing this. So that note is pulling up isn't it. But if I play this, most people around the
world would hear that note and they'd want to come down to this note. And that's called voice leading. When you have a note in a melody that sort of pulls in
a particular direction, upwards by step by step, downwards by step or maybe you've got something like this, and you've got this note in your melody and it's dying to resolve
back to the tonic of the key. So voice leading, you don't
want notes in the melody that are pulling away
from where they naturally want to go. So really consider that you've
got the voice leading going. And when you've then had a
chance to construct your melody, kind of bearing all that in mind, don't forget to put the finishing touches, which is about expressive detail. Because it's a pity to get to the point where you've written a great melody, but you haven't got any dynamics, you haven't got any phrasing, you haven't got a tempo mark in, you haven't thought about accentuation, all these kinds of things, that really make the
music kind of come alive. So not an exhaustive list,
but seven practical tips if you're a composer wanting
to write a melody that works, if you're someone who has to
do it for some kind of exam. But I do want to refer
to a real piece of music that most people would actually think, well, that's got a great melody, even if you don't think
it's a great melody, you have to admit, it's
a memorable melody. So here's a very famous piece, it's for Für Elise by Beethoven. And I just want to sort of
look at this for a moment as a piece that most people
will have heard in their lives, and just to think about it from a kind of melodic point of view. This piece is about other things, it's got harmony in it, and it's got kind of rhythmic ideas in it. But let's just look at the
first bit of this score. I'll remind you of the piece,
you're bound to have heard it. So that's a very famous melody, it's probably one of the most
famous melodies ever written. Have a look at that alongside this list. Does it have a clear sense of structure? Well, this is the first
section of a longer piece, but can we see and hear
the phrase structure? Absolutely, we can see exactly what's going on in the
phrase structure there. You've got your opening thing, which finishes very neatly at
the end of the second line, then we've got a new phrase
that has a very clear cadence at the end of that phrase,
the link into sort of bar 15, and then we've got this last phrase again. So it's got a very clear structure, the last phrase on the
page, looking at bar 17, it's a rerun of what
we've had in bar three, well, it starts earlier doesn't it really a couple of bars before that. So, even this section has
got a structure within it, it's got a tenary structure within it. It's got an A idea, then it's got a central B
idea then is coming back to the A idea again. So there's a structure
within the bigger structure. So we certainly tick the structure and phrase structure boxes. Planning the key structure,
what's Beethoven done? He started in A minor, he's
gone to C major in the middle, he's comeback to A minor. C major is the relative
major of the key of A minor. So that all makes sense. So he's got a real good
sense of the key structure. Has the melody got a clear harmonic plan? Well yes it has, some of the
notes even spell out chords. Like that spelling out chord I in A minor, that's spelling out chord V and A minor. So can you see how the melody and the harmony completely
kind of weld together? So we've got a really clear harmonic plan in the melodic design. The main ideas? Well we all know this kind of
alternating two note thing. That's one of his ideas, what
a simple but clever idea, starting on the fifth note of the scale, the dominant note, using a
chromatic low auxiliary note, that D-sharp's not in the key of A minor he could have used D-natural but the D-sharp is so
much more distinctive. So very simple idea, but
doesn't it work well. Then hear how that idea
kind of evolves into here, where we kind of get the left hand going and the melody takes on
a new kind of energy. So you can see what's going on with that. That's one of the ideas. The other main idea is this
thing about using notes that spell out chords. So you can see that he's got kind of two contrasting things there. Then we've got these funny octaves things. That's a kind of linking idea, but nevertheless it's
something that contrasts with those other two
ideas we've talked about. So you can see what's going on there, designing the main ideas, Beethoven's really through
what those are going to be. Balance conjunct and disjunct movement, well have we done this? At the beginning this is
conjunct movement isn't it, small leaps, but this is more not disjunct, not radically so but more disjunct, back to conjunct, and then back to the more
disjunct at the end of that. Then another conjunct, then a bit of a mixture, and then notice how here
is got a sequence going, he's using these four notes
in a descending sequence. Interesting with the distinctive big leap, then step wise back inside the leap. Same leap, step wise back
inside, repeating that pattern. Then because we've had a
fair bit of conjunct stuff, these octaves, disjunct. And that also works with a harmony, it's kind of all these dominant notes, all these fifth notes of the scale, kind of preparing us for a return to the tonic. It's kind of playing into the structure and playing into the chord
language of the piece as well. So, balance of conjunct and disjunct. Voice leading, does
the voice leading work? Well when you hear D-sharp, the D-sharp pulls you back to E again. And then you can hear
how, as we go through, one note naturally leads to another. It kind of wants to do that. So it's just allowing the melody
to go where it wants to go. Have we got expressive detail? Well, the tempo mark at the beginning, it says pp, we've got
crescendo, diminuendo, we've got pedal markings,
we've got some accents, there's all sorts of things
to make that complete. So it's interesting, isn't it? Because if you want to write
a melody that works well, here are seven tips, as I say, not exhaustive, but seven tips. When we look at one of
the most famous melodies, in the history of music, how does it measure up against this list? Well it ticks everything on that list absolutely beautifully. So, I hope that helps with those of you wanting to write a great melody, and with those who want to appreciate well what makes a great melody, and when I hear one, well what is it that I'm
hearing that makes it great.
