If there is something in the world of music that we have all clearly felt in our lives, it is melody.
The melody of a song If we think about it for a moment, we will realize that we don't even need to open our mouth to produce a melody. It's incredibly easy for anyone, personal, intimate. A carefree whistle, hum, or simple murmur with some intonation contains melodies or parts of them. Speaking itself, each person's way of expressing themselves, the different languages, … practically everything that is generated in our throat and comes out of our mouth is or can be a melody.
What are melodies?
We can say that any melody is a succession of sounds with defined rhythmic and tonal characteristics, which we perceive as a unit, with a beginning, a development and an end. The melody happens over time, one note after another, a silence here and there. It is usually the most prominent element of a musical composition, what we are going to remember, many times, in the first place, and what is going to convey the lyrics of a song, if it has any. The melodies are, to a large extent, the songs themselves, the key musical element.
melodic elements
But, although we perceive melodies as a unit, as something with a journey and meaning in themselves, we can also identify smaller elements in them, some components that make them possible, organize them and relate them to the rest of the music. music of the compositions where they appear. Some of the most important melodic elements are: The soundThe gradesThe cells either reasonsThe musical phrases
Let's see them a little in detail.
1. The sound
The first thing to keep in mind in a melody is that we are talking about sounds. The physical phenomenon by which the air vibrates, carrying sound impulses, enters our ears and our brain and we listen, is the essential basis for us to perceive melodies. When we think about music, as something general, or about a melody specifically, we do not usually pay attention to this, we take it for granted, as obvious, but the truth is that the sound character of a melody and its characteristics can be very important to the time to listen to it, understand it and remember it.
2. The notes
And these musical sounds, it is true, are not usually just any sounds. Although different forms of noise can be part of a musical recording, they usually have a complementary role in the harmonic structure or melodic discourse of songs, especially.
Birds or notes? The basic musical sounds are notes. A note is, in short, a pitch or sound pitch and a specific duration. The pitch alone, the fact of hearing a C or an E, in isolation, does not make it music. Even hearing a musical scale like C major, in a mechanical way, will not convey much substance as a musical artifact either. Likewise, a long or short note, sharp or soft, by itself, is not music. The repeated combination of varied sounds will begin to be music, a form of rhythm, but it will not have a melodic value by itself either. To create melodies we must precisely combine pitches and durations of notes, as well as silences, let's not forget. We have to breathe.
3. Cells or motifs
These notes, probably, before becoming a complete melody, have gone through a phase of attempt, of searching for internal meaning. Let us remember that music, in itself, has no meaning. The note we call middle C on a keyboard does not mean “house” or “tree” or anything else. The meaning of music is created thanks to the relationships between the elements that make it up and the musical education of each person. Finally, the meaning, if it has any, is given to each listener when listening to it. The first link of musical meaning can be a few notes, with a specific relationship between them, and which will define the rest of the melody where they appear. They are going to be repeated, they are going to be transformed, they are going to be expanded in different ways. We call this cell or musical motif.
Reason and variations
4. Musical phrases
When these musical motifs are surrounded by some more notes, so that we can sing them and understand them as a piece of music, which already has a meaning in itself, which completes a small musical journey, we can say that we are listening to a musical phrase. Although many times the terminology that we use to explain concepts or ideas can complicate a simple thing, in this case, using the word “phrase” from the linguistic context helps us understand that fragment of a melody that, although it sustains itself same and can be sung with meaning, it still needs other phrases to achieve sufficient variety and a musical or narrative unity, if we want to put it that way. The Podcast episode dedicated to melody
The melody line
And finally, when we combine two or more musical phrases in a specific way we obtain our beloved melody. If we have built it well, if we have listened to it carefully, we will have a sound thread with meaning, a sensory journey, something diverse that sounds like a whole. Good or bad melodies? That's another matter. The subjective element weighs a lot when evaluating artistic works. It also tells about each person's musical background, the influences and genres we prefer, even the precise moment we hear a new melody. What they all have in common, or should have, is an evolution, an inner contrast that will become expressiveness, communication and that, from the academic world especially, the famous theory of music, is called melodic development. .
Singer
Conclusions
Deep down, we all like melodies. The simplest and the most twisted, the predictable and the strange, all have their place, their space, throats willing to sing them. Some people who write songs dream of the perfect melody, the one that will seduce anyone who listens to it, but in reality, there is no such thing. Diversity in music is something endless. Tastes change, moods change and melodies change. So many genres and musical styles. And when everything fits and a song gets into our heads and reaches our guts, we understand the magic of singing and music, we feel that communication and empathy are possible, that our hearts are connected to others in the world. And in that moment, things make sense and it's worth living and screaming and singing and shaking. Even if it's just for a moment. Let's listen. Let's sing. Let's make melodies. Let's write songs. #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_form { } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_column_with_background { padding: 10px; } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_form_column:not(:first-child) { margin-left: 20px; } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_paragraph { line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_segment_label, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_text_label, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_textarea_label, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_select_label, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_radio_label, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_checkbox_label, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_list_label, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_date_label { display: block; font-weight: normal; } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_text, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_textarea, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_select, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_date_month, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_date_day, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_date_year, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_date { display: block; } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_text, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_textarea { width: 200px; } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_checkbox { } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_submit { } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_divider { } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_message { } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_form_loading { width: 30px; text-align: center; line-height: normal; } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_form_loading > span { width: 5px; height: 5px; background-color: #5b5b5b; }#mailpoet_form_3{border: 1px solid #fcb900;border-radius: 40px;text-align: center;}#mailpoet_form_3 form.mailpoet_form {padding: 20px;}#mailpoet_form_3{width: 70%;}#mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_message {margin : 0; padding: 0 20px;}#mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_paragraph.last {margin-bottom: 0} @media (max-width: 500px) {#mailpoet_form_3 {background-image: none;}} @media (min-width: 500px) { #mailpoet_form_3 .last .mailpoet_paragraph:last-child {margin-bottom: 0}} @media (max-width: 500px) {#mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_form_column:last-child .mailpoet_paragraph:last-child {margin-bottom: 0}} Please leave this field emptyDo you write songs or would you like to?
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