Questions tagged [melody]

A succession of notes which comprise the principal part in harmonized music.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
0 votes
0 answers
74 views

Why was Mozart so good at writing melodies?

I don't mean this in a "hurr durr IQ hurr durr GENIOUS" way. Do we know if Mozart specifically studied folk songs, lieder etc. over learning fugues and counterpoint?
0 votes
2 answers
92 views

How come scales that differ in their ascent and descent tend to use raised notes going up and lowered notes going down regardless of musical culture?

A great variety of scales across the world differ in the way they go up and down. Some examples that come to mind are the Melodic minor that has A and B natural going up but Bb and Ab going down. A ...
2 votes
0 answers
108 views

What makes the melody so counterintuitive in the chorus/refrain of Light my Fire? [closed]

In the song light my fire by the doors, the refrain of the chorus repeats: “c’mon baby, light my fire” The last 3-4 syllables have something interesting going on in the variations that come with each ...
1 vote
1 answer
75 views

What options do I have to utilize all my created riffs to their full potential?

Playing guitar, I tend to create a whole bunch of different riffs that flow one after the other in the same key. They all sound really good together but then I wonder how I could turn them into a song....
3 votes
2 answers
102 views

What do you call it when two different melodies are combined? [duplicate]

Say that Alice has a theme song with a certain melody. Also, Bob has his own theme with a certain melody. But during a scene where Alice and Bob are together, both melodies are played together at once ...
  • 233
1 vote
1 answer
57 views

Question on the definition of a dissonant passing/neighbor tone?

I am currently trying to teach myself counterpoint following Jacob Gran's videos. When I was analyzing my exercises today, I thought of this question. If the first two notes of a dissonant neighbor(or ...
  • 11
0 votes
3 answers
95 views

Time signature vs. Melody [duplicate]

I have a very difficult time understanding the relevance of time signature in music. Does a musician think in terms of time signature when composing a piece, or thinks in terms of melody? When I play ...
  • 153
7 votes
3 answers
3k views

What do you call it when someone sings a melody and simultaneously plays the exact same melody?

What do you call it when someone sings a melody while another instrument plays the exact same melody in unison? For example: "Crosstown Traffic" – The Jimi Hendrix Experience, intro: a ...
4 votes
3 answers
451 views

What is it called when the main melody is playing in a different time signature from the harmony?

For example, in the Phantasy Star Online Intro song, the main melody starts to play in 3/4 time, whereas the overall song (and the harmony) remains playing in 4/4 time. (starts after 10 seconds, at ...
  • 233
5 votes
3 answers
580 views

How can I find a reference pitch when I practice singing a song by ear?

If I listened to a song for enough time, memorized the melody and the vocals of the original singer removed and now I am left with just the accompaniments playing in the background and I am going to ...
  • 347
6 votes
3 answers
910 views

Learning to sing a song: sheet music vs. by ear

Every time I want to learn to sing a new song, I get sheet music of the song and practice playing the melody on the piano before practicing singing it to match the pitch from the piano, memorize the ...
  • 347
3 votes
2 answers
733 views

Do I need to know every note I am going to sing?

If I am learning to sing a song do I need to know what notes and chords are in the song to find my reference pitch for the first note I am going to sing or singing the first note happens unconsciously ...
  • 347
1 vote
1 answer
68 views

Having a hard time writing a midi melody in my DAW [closed]

I have a problem. I am writing a midi melody in a part of a song in Reaper. I'm having a hard time writing it because several notes sound out of beat and I have no reference (bar lines) so, being a ...
  • 11
4 votes
3 answers
597 views

Can a diatonic melody in one key sound like it is in another key?

Here is a simple melody I composed in C# minor but while listening to it closely, the part notated in red seems to me like the music has actually moved across to G# minor. Is it weird to say this ...
  • 9,209
1 vote
0 answers
41 views

More Terms for Melodic Functions in Narrative Situations

Leitmotifs (which in this context I mean as a motif or theme representing a person, place, thing, idea, etc.) are one of the only music theory concepts that have really escaped into (comparatively) ...
  • 133
1 vote
1 answer
96 views

Learning to sing: Some songs i can sing straightforwardly other i really cant is this normal?

I've been learning to sing for a year. And I noticed some great improvements but there is one thing that happens to me that is totally strange: When I listen to songs, there are songs that I can "...
  • 305
2 votes
2 answers
73 views

Does the Scarlatti's 'Cortege' really sound like Gaudeamus Igitur?

Every time I hear https://imslp.org/wiki/Keyboard_Sonata_in_E_major%2C_K.380_(Scarlatti%2C_Domenico), I think I'm hearing the melody for the third and fourth lines of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
2 votes
1 answer
122 views

The reading of a song: what a beginner in composition needs to pay attention when reading a song? [closed]

Firstly, I'm a beginner in composition and all of my songs were quite "intuitive". I'm at a stage where I really need to know music theory in order to produce better songs. I) Introduction ...
  • 231
3 votes
1 answer
67 views

Where is the palindrome melody in Schoenberg Op.15 No.1

From Mindy Beth Horowitz's dissertation, "Vocal Melody in Schoenberg's Opus 15: Boundaries of Text and Register", The song begins with an almost palindromic melody which ascents from B3 to ...
1 vote
2 answers
72 views

A melodic 2nd above a simple minor triad has a unique feel, and a required duration. Explanations?

Examples “Long” (first sung note) in Carpenters ‘Superstar’. B mel above A minor “Far” in ‘Yesterday’ (McCartney). E mel above D minor The effect is lost over a min7 (why?). Or without extended ...
2 votes
2 answers
95 views

Keep moving hand while playing a melody?

If I play a melody with the rythm like fourth, eight, eight, how should I move my hands? My books says it should be a downstroke on the first fourth, downstroke on the first eight and an upstroke on ...
  • 123
5 votes
3 answers
151 views

Can a Round Modulate?

I've been messing around with simple 2-part rounds recently, and also with modulation. The question occurred to me, can a round modulate? Initially I though not, since it would involve having parts in ...
4 votes
2 answers
654 views

If a song has no scale degree 6, how to decide between aeolian and dorian?

I don't know what I did to deserve it, but I had "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" stuck in my head this morning (perhaps better known with lyrics about an ant colony, as popularized by a ...
  • 12.4k
0 votes
3 answers
174 views

Melody Notes With Borrowed Chords [closed]

If I got a chord progression and I borrow a chord from a parallel mode is the tension/harmony between the melody and the underlying chord to the parallel, or the original chord, or both? Let's say I ...
  • 105
1 vote
3 answers
197 views

Analysing melodies with mathematics [closed]

I am doing a statistics project in which I analyze the most streamed songs on Spotify to create one based on the data I get. I analyze the harmony, structure, key, tempo... I just don't know how to ...
1 vote
0 answers
71 views

Melody notes Gouryella - Tenshi [closed]

I would like to know the notes of the melody of this song I think the notes are like this: In 1:11: BBBB EEEE EEEE EEEE AAAA CCCC DDDD DDDD GGGG C#C#C#C# EEEE F#F#F#F# ...
1 vote
0 answers
40 views

Help identifying chords/scale [closed]

I'm new to music theory and I am trying to reproduce parts of a song for practice. I really like the chords/scale that kick in at 2:36 of this song: Open Form - Lost Desert, Amand, Reigan: https://...
1 vote
0 answers
105 views

What makes a song not sound like classical music [closed]

For example La Califfa, it is sung by a mezzo-soprano but the melody of this song cannot be mistaken for classical music. Is there a way to explain this? What exactly makes it sound modern?
  • 333
6 votes
3 answers
198 views

Melodic minor: Does 6 get raised when descending and then ascending immediately?

I found this embellished suspension in C minor: The notes between S and R embellish the dissonant S. You can see that the leading tone 7 is raised in both descending and ascending directions, as well ...
5 votes
5 answers
164 views

Is a note that is enharmonic to a diatonic note of some diatonic scale, also diatonic in regards to that scale?

I'm learning some music theory from a book, and encountered some question in my head that I can't seem to answer. The question is in the title: Is a note that is enharmonic to a diatonic note of some ...
4 votes
5 answers
750 views

How do I make sure I'm hitting the right notes when I sing?

I'm a beginner. I think I will get a new vocal coach since my current vocal coach is ineffective and doesn't help me at all. I asked my question on reddit and asked a singer I know, my question is: ...
  • 81
1 vote
5 answers
405 views

Can we run out of melodies one day?

There are a lot of great melodies out there, many of them classic (both classical pieces and electronic songs). They are unique and will never be repeated. Given that melodies are created using a ...
3 votes
1 answer
93 views

Is there a historic origin for final ending (cadence) of V-I with melody tones ^3 ^1 in some jazz standards?

In some jazz standards I see a final ending of V-I using melody tones ^3 ^1, for example... Cherokee in B flat All of Me in C Note that the ^3 in those examples is not some kind of embellishment of ^...
3 votes
0 answers
46 views

How to know in which scale i am from the notes of a melody? [duplicate]

Is there a way to know in which scale a melody is? I have no musical lessons and i learned the minimum that i know from the internet but i think i have some basis (or i want to think it at least). My ...
2 votes
3 answers
156 views

Making a melodic line stand out in written score

I'm arranging an orchestral piece for solo piano, and find myself transcribing a passage with a single melodic line in the lower register, which to play on piano should alternate between the left and ...
  • 1,485
1 vote
0 answers
40 views

What is the piano melody to this song [closed]

in the beat of Distance by Beast Coast, I think the first note is a D# but I'm not sure about the others.
  • 11
6 votes
2 answers
327 views

What does "plagal" actually mean for modal music and melody generally

Basic textbook descriptions of the church modes seem clear, but I find things confusing when looking at actual compositions. I especially don't understand what "plagal" modes really means. I ...
4 votes
3 answers
494 views

notation for different versions of melody

I have a simple song for which I know two melodies to play. They are not played simultaneously - one has to choose between one of them. What is the common/standard notation for that? As far as I know, ...
  • 728
8 votes
3 answers
694 views

Is there some theory that suggests that sequences may be formed by "sampling" earlier sequences?

Is there some theory that suggests that sequences may be formed by "sampling" earlier sequences? Often music theory seems to suggest progression as "where to go next", but I've ...
  • 181
2 votes
1 answer
107 views

Schumann posthumous variation V's choice on descending the semitone or whole tone

Here is the starting part of Schumann posthumous variation V, I am interested in knowing the "logic" or the "reasoning" why and how Schumann chose the descending tones of the ...
  • 733
1 vote
1 answer
78 views

How to smoothly change between vastly different melodies [closed]

I'm starting a Concerto(Piano) and all of the problems I have come across are A: regarding the orchestration(this is my first orchestral piece) and B: the 2 subjects of the first sonata movement are ...
  • 39
4 votes
3 answers
127 views

On Schumann posthumous variation V's note on a natural G or a flat G

This shows the first two bars of Schumann posthumous variations V. Look at this music note (red-squared), I am curious to know why Schumann chose a natural G instead of the original flat G in this ...
  • 733
3 votes
1 answer
96 views

Is there a term for repeated melodies of different length

Inspired Flight's "An Outlet" is an example of what I mean. For the first few measures, a melody of 16 eighth notes is established in middle register (if I ...
  • 183
5 votes
4 answers
788 views

Should melody avoid nonchord tones since they are disonant?

Should nonchord tones be avoided since they are "dissonant"?
3 votes
2 answers
103 views

Why might two jumps in contrary motion be avoided? [duplicate]

The goal is to write a well-constructed and easily singable melody. There is a motif in my melody that outlines a C major triad like this: E4 G4 C4 (in that order). Why might it not be wise to have ...
  • 1,148
8 votes
2 answers
492 views

What techniques and methods govern how melody can suggest a certain harmony?

In The Art of Strict Musical Composition, Volume 2 chapter 3, by Johann Philip Kirnberger (student of Bach) he writes “Here it must be stated first that every good melody is based on a proper harmony, ...
6 votes
5 answers
467 views

How do rhythm and melody compete and cooperate to define the horizontal space of music?

I have some conceptual trouble understanding the differences between rhythm and melody. I get that harmony is the vertical dimension of music (thinking in terms of sheet music or a piano roll view in ...
4 votes
3 answers
529 views

What's it called when you play the same exact melody with a different rhythm?

As an example, here is the original iconic melodic phrase that's used throughout the Trails Sky games: https://youtube.com/embed/3GB-xej4GFc?start=66&end=85 But here in this next piece, the exact ...
  • 233
1 vote
0 answers
37 views

What mode does this melody use? [closed]

Would this be considered E Phrygian?
  • 11
1 vote
2 answers
178 views

What characteristics of a piece contribute to defining its tonal centre?

I have been wondering since a long time that what exactly in a piece defines the scale and the tonal center. Even if we are given a chord progression that is followed through the entirety of the song, ...
  • 161

1
2 3 4 5
7