Indiesongwriter ep2 Writing melodies from a cell by Indiesongwriter.net
A little idea for composing melody inspired by this thread on the 5090 forum.
Gary Ewer on Writing Melody without knowing Theory
Gary Ewer has an interesting article ‘Writing Song Melodies without knowing Music Theory’ over at www.songwritinglab.com about how to write melodies when you don’t know any music theory.
Don’t worry, he isn’t pedalling that old canard about music theory stunting musical expression. Instead, Gary’s suggesting that writing songs is what creates theory and that there are still perfectly good ways to create a melody even if your theoretical knowlege is limited.
Here are some of his ideas:
1. Use your musical instincts. One might argue that it should actually be easier for a songwriter who doesn’t read music to do this.
2. Even without music theory, most musicians know scales, and so keep this basic rule in mind: most melodies should move mainly by scale steps, with only occasional leaps. (There are notable exceptions to this: “The Star-Spangled Banner”, for one, the opening melody of which is quite leapy.)
3. Good melodies tend to have a “climactic high point”. This is a spot in the melody that is usually a coinciding of a high pitch with a structurally significant chord (the tonic or dominant chord).
4. Good melodies incorporate a recognizable shape, called a motif, which tends to repeat (either as-is, or modified) throughout the song. This motif is part of what makes a melody memorable. A good example is Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.”, which repeats that catchy melodic hook over and over.
5. Good melodies should place high-emotion words higher in pitch. There is a natural pulse to language, and you should set your words to reflect this natural pulse.
These are really good points, and while not every melody needs to follow these ideas, many of the most effective really do.
However, I’d suggest that what Gary is talking about here is music theory, and that actually any musician who knows this does know theory.
Music theory isn’t a strai-jacket that binds you to a set of rules, and it isn’t learning by rote the ‘correct’ term for every musical idea. Music Theory is simply drawing connections, trying to figure out generally what works, so you can either use the idea straight or subvert it.
The more music theory you know, the more you understand.
And don’t think, just because you didn’t go to music college and learn all the Italian musical terms, you don’t know theory. Theory isn’t about names, it’s about having the brains to draw connections between different songs.
Music Theory is just engaging the brain when making music.
The more theory you know, the more free you are to compose.
Is this Essential Theory for Songwriters?
Edwin Songsville, over on the Fawm.org forums, has instigated an interesting discussion on what the ‘essential’ music theory knowledge for songwriters might be.
Here’s the list he’s come up with so far:
1. Identify the key of a song they were writing
2. Identify the diatonic chords available for that key
3. Play these chords: major, minor, 7, m7, Maj7, slash
4. Extra points for being able to play sus2, sus4, 9, add9, 6, dim, 11, aug, dim7, dim7b5
5. Build those and other chords from scratch by understanding their structure eg: 1357 etc
6. Write out their songs in I, IV, V etc format
7. Write in waltz and 5 time rythmns
8. Know and follow basic song structures (available here: http://muse.fawm.org/struxxure )
9. Identify the phrases in their melody, including points of tension and points of rest
10. Play the scales and/or modes useful for the styles of music they write in
11. Recognise intervals and the power they have for conveying emotion
What do you think? Can youd do all those things? Is it helpful to know this stuff, or is having it as ‘instinctive’ rather than explicit knowledge enough?
Songwriting as a Wave
Imagine a wave building in the sea. As it moves towards the shore it rises and falls, higher, lower, higher still. Growing in height and energy, it reahces a climax, teetering at its greatest height before crashing into white froth on the beach.
The wave is a useful metaphor for songwriting.
The melodic contour of your melody
A melody which only rises, falls or stays on one line will probably not be engaging. Melodic interest comes from a wave-like pattern of peaks and troughs – notes rising to points of climax before falling again.
If each peak is higher than the last the emotion is heightened until finally you reach the highest point – the moment of greatest tension – before falling again to a point of rest.
The energy level of your song
There is more than one way of defining energy in your songs. Energy could come from speed, from the amount of layers, from the building complexity of rhythms or from harmonic tension. However energy is defined, staying at the same level is usually a bad move. Too much repetition of the same mood can destroy that mood. Instead, think of energy as a wave – you need peaks and troughs, with the highest peak towards the end of the song before you fall back down to a coda or outro which is relatively low in energy.
The structure of your song
Closely connected to energy levels then is structure. Let’s consider the standard popular song structure:
Verse
Chorus
Verse
Chorus
Middle
Chorus
Generally speaking, the verse can act as a trough and the chorus as a peak. The chorus melody will very often be higher pitched than the verse and will have more energy.
The most energetic part of a wave is the moment before it breaks – when the tension is greatest, where the energy is highest.
In the standard pop song this moment is the end of the middle section – perhaps a bridge, or solo section. Here the melody will most likely be at its highest pitch, the harmony most dissonant. You have a moment at the very end of this section in which you can hold the listener in a state of tension…. before releasing that tension by returning to the chorus and slightly less energetic, more familiar material.
The wave can be a useful metaphor for songwriting. What other metaphors can you think of?
Melodic Devices – Steps and Leaps
This small series of posts will look at the different ideas and devices you can use when creating a melody.
Today we’re going to look at movement from one note to another in steps and leaps, but before we do that, here’ s a definition:
Melody - a linear succesion of notes that the listener hears as a whole musical entity.
That’s just off the top of my head, I’m sure we could come up with more detail but at its heart, a melody is a linear sequence of notes that sound like they’re joined together. For a melody to make sense we usually use a set group of notes, for example the major scale. This post is all about how you can move from one note to another, and what you might think about as you decide which notes to use.
Disclaimer
The rest of this post is going to show some different ways of setting the same words and pick apart the different options in a considered manner. This probably isn’t how anyone would actually write a melody. Probably you’d get to the melody through improvisation and trial and error. That’s how I usually write as well, but taking time out to think about your options can be a great way of improving your melody writing when you do come to improvise.
Stepwise movement
Example one makes use of a line of lyrics I’ve had hanging around for a while, but haven’t done anything with:
‘They broadcast my birthday on a numbers station, I still don’t know what it means’
For this example I’ve chosen to use the key of A minor, so the notes we’ve got to choose from are A B C D E F G A
Download Numbers Example 1
This melody centres around an A note for the first four bars, during the A minor chord. It then moves down to an F note during the D minor chord and an E note during the E minor chord. There are occasional G notes, and only one instance, the movement from the G to E in the third bar, where the notes don’t move in step.
This works as the beginning of a melody. My note choices are based mostly on chord notes, and by sticking to mostly stepwise motion, I’ve created a downward contour that makes sense.
However, while the melody moves, it doesn’t have the breadth of emotion that it could have. If you want a more expressive melody, some well judged leaps are what you need.
Taking a leap
If I’m going to emphasise the emotion of the line, I need to decide which are the most emotive words. I think both the end of the line, and the words ‘numbers station’ are most important, which example two should emphasise.
Download Numbers Example 2
With this example, I’ve put a leap from the G to C for the word numbers, and a leap from A to E for the word ‘know’. A leap is more expressive, and having successive, growing leaps helps to create an emotional climax in your melody. A word of warning though – too many leaps and they loose their effect because the notes start sounding disjointed and note part of a sinlge linear melody. That might be the effect you want, but if not leaps need to be mixed carefully with stepwise motion.
A complete melody
Neither one of the two examples above work as a complete melody, they’re fragments really, but running the two one after the other has a pleasant shape that I think works pretty well:
Download Numbers Example 3
Conclusion
To sum up, whatever scale you’ve chosen, it’s important to have the right mix of steps and leaps. Most of your melody will move in steps, with leaps there to create a sense of growing climax – the larger the leap, the larger the climax. Too many leaps and the notes will sound unconnected. That’s the effect you hear when an instrument is playing arpeggios – for example the highest notes in each arpeggio might sound as if they form a melody, even though the instrument is actually playing a series of leaps. You might want an effect like that, in which case leap away. But for a linear melody, use them sparingly.
And for the comments
I can think of a few famous melodies that make use of a well placed leap in pitch. The opening of Somewhere Over the Rainbow is a classic example. What other examples are there?
What makes a good melody?
What makes a good melody? It’s a difficult thing to pin down.
Easier to define is an effective melody. An effective melody will:
- Mostly move in step (C to D) with only occasional leaps (C to G)
- Be rhythmically coherent – not using too large a variety of note values
- Have a well defined tonal character (major scale, minor scale, one of the modes)
- Have a clear structure, divided into clear phrases, often related to multiples of 4 (four lines of four bar phrases for example)
- Make use of call and answer phrasing (First half ends unresolved on D, Second half resolves on C)
Those sort of ideas will give you a melody that works, but we’ve all heard melodies that work without being outstanding.
What makes a good melody?
Gary Ewer has some good ideas here.
What would you say is the secret to a good melody?
Songwriting Sketches – The Exorcism of Marjorie Grace
For the 50/90 challenge I’d thought I’d try something different and write a set of lyrics before I composed any music. Usually, I write lyrics and music at the same time, starting of with melody ideas and a mixture of possible lyrics, nonsense verse and random ‘la’ and ‘doo’ sounds. This time I forced myself to write lyrics to ‘The Exorcism of Marjorie Grace’ before I sang a note.
I haven’t finished yet, I’m about halfway. However, I’ve recorded some sketches, so I thought I’d share the process with you.
Sketch one – The chorus melody
Something interesting happened as I was writing the lyrics. The music started to come to me anyway, even though it was just me, the pen and the paper. It became clear that the rhythm of the words fit with a 6/8 time signature, and would sound something like the first section off the video.
Sketch two – Verses, choruses and some instrumental ideas
I haven’t quite defined them yet, but there are going to be some twiddley guitar parts centred on arpeggios of the root minor chord and the second diminished chord.
The verses also use those chords, but with an extra major sixth in the minor chord to contrast with the minor sixth of the scale in chord 2. This allows me to emphasise those notes in the melody, moving from the B to a Bb and then A, G, D. A couple of chromatic notes give’s the music a dark feel, which matches the mood nicely.
Sketch 3 – Middle eight and final chorus
The middle 8 is longer than 8 bars, and takes a simple idea through three different keys. This matches the rising tension as they try to Exorcise Marjorie.
The final chorus is in the major key instead of the minor. That’s a simple idea but not one I often use. Marjorie is now free of her demons so the music reflects her new hope.
Hopefully the song will be finished some time soon. When it is, I’ll share it with you.
John Mayer and Synthetic Muso-Regurgitation
Here’ s a really interesting video from John Mayer, on a songwriting technique of his.
What he does is take a tiny melodic fragment from three well known songs and plays them one after the other in the same key to create a new melody.
Is that cheating? No, I don’t think so. After all, he’s only using tiny little melodic fragments that will have been used countless times in different melodies. It’s no different from using standard chord shapes or progressions. It’s also something I’ve never tried before:
Stealing Ideas From Iron Maiden’s Fear of the Dark
Iron Maiden are one of my favourite bands, and one of the most influential heavy metal bands ever. A great post over at ‘Troll in the Corner’ got me thinking about them, and listening to some of my favourite Maiden songs.
Fear of the Dark, the title track from their 1992 album, the last before Bruce Dickinson left (temporarily) to pursue a solo career.
It’s far from Maiden’s longest song, but at seven and a half minutes it’s a masterclass in how to manage pace and momentum over longer periods of time.
I want to point out two great ideas that could be applied to songwriting in any genre.
- Changing tempo – changing tempo is one of Maiden’s trademarks. This happens several times in Fear of the Dark, most notably at 2 minutes into the video, and in the second chorus at 3.18. They almost always change suddenly, which isn’t the only way to do it, but changing tempo in your songs can be a very effective way of adding contrast.
- Harmonic rhythm – or the pace at which the chords change. The first verse (2.20) and the second verse (2.58) have the same melody, but listen to the chord changes. The chords change twice as often in the second verse compared to the first. This is another great technique Iron Maiden use to build the pace and interest within the second.
- A static riff over a moving bassline. That first riff at 2 minutes involves the bass changing chords while the guitars play a static three note riff.
- The ABA middle section. A common feature of middle sections in heavy metal is the ABA structure. In this song we have a guitar melody as section A, guitar solos as section B, then a modified repeat of section A with the added ‘Fear of the Daaaark!’ vocal.
- A riff and chorus you can sing along with – Maiden have reached the point where they can literally draw hundreds of thousands of people to concerts, but even in their early days they wrote songs that seemed designed for stadium audiences to sing along with. What does that involve? – lots of repetition, and often melodies based on either the first notes of the aeolian mode, or chord notes.
None of these ideas are unique to Maiden or to metal, and can definitely applied to songwriting in any genre.
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Ultimate Songwriting Lessons – Songwriting Hooks and Songwriting Meat
I just stumbled across this video, via this post.
It’s from this website.
First off, let me make clear that I have a very low opinion of sales pages like this one. I know they’ve been shown to work, that they’re ‘good marketing,’ but I really don’t like them.
However, don’t take that us an opinion of the book, as I haven’t read it, I’ve just seen the video.
A few thoughts occured as I watched, and I made some rough notes:
- The narrator equates artistic worth with ‘lyrical depth’. Personally I would argue that lyrics are not the main conveyor of meaning in popular song – meaning comes from other parts of the song as well.
- Suggesting that ‘Satisfaction’ by the Stones has lyrical depth is probably pushing things.
- The Cardigans hook is great, but I want more meat in this analysis. For example, the hook is not just the guitar part, it’s the combination of a relatively static two pitch guitar riff over a moving chord progression. The rhythm of the guitar riff – emphasising beats 2 and 4 like the snare drum, probably has something to do with it, as does the A A A B structure of the riff.
Hooks are generally good because they emphasise or play with our expectations.
Take that fantastic Satisfaction guitar riff – yes it has only three pitches and a really unique timbre, but we can say more than that.
For a start, the chords underneath are E and A. The riff follows the chords starting on a B note in the E chord before moving through a Csharp to a D. When we come to the A chord the guitar is playing a D, creating an A sus4 chord that then resolves to the Csharp and a straight A chord.
So it’s taken a suspended chord we’re very used to from choral music (and lots of other styles) and transposed it to a rhythm and blues setting.
The Kylie Minogue hook is worth mentioning because the meat of it is so wonderfully simple – all those off beat notes, plus a melody that traces a simple line between two chords that are a fifth apart – just like in Satisfaction.
I’ve only watched the one video from this website, and they definitely look worthwhile. Whether the ugly sales page is a good move is up to you.
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