| A contemporary hit song melody plays many | | | | begin playing around with the pitch and rhythm by |
| roles in the success of that song. Melodies | | | | exaggerating certain notes and note lengths until |
| basically provide the structure for everything else | | | | you find the right match for the emotional tone |
| in the song to sit on. Melodies provide a great | | | | of your song. |
| amount of support for the lyrics and key lines in | | | | It is important to remember that hit songs need |
| the lyric, and the melody also provides a catchy | | | | to contain contrast in order to keep your listener. |
| tune to hook the audience. | | | | The chorus of the song will contain more |
| Many new songwriters wonder if they have to | | | | exaggerated notes and phrases while the verse |
| play a musical instrument to be able to write a | | | | of the song needs to keep a natural and |
| melody. The answer is no!! Constructing a melody | | | | conversational feel. |
| acapella is a great way to write melodies. There | | | | When songwriters opt to start with just a |
| are a couple of reasons for this. | | | | melody, it is often because inspiration has already |
| When writing melodies, some songwriters try to | | | | hit them. They already have a small clip of |
| find inspiration off of chord progressions. Although | | | | melody in their minds to start working with. When |
| this may work for some, it often creates a | | | | starting this way, you first need to define the |
| boring and predictable melody. | | | | emotional tone of your song. This has a lot to do |
| Also, we have all listened to music for our entire | | | | with how fast the song will go, and what kind of |
| lives! We basically know what works and what | | | | notes you will use. For example, a sad song will |
| doesn't when it comes to song melodies. We | | | | use a slow pace and may contain more minor |
| have a lot of music stored in our heads. Its | | | | notes whereas a happy song will be more upbeat |
| pretty easy to come up with a beginning inspired | | | | and may use more major chords. |
| piece of melody to begin molding into a great hit. | | | | Then you have to define the sections of the |
| There are a couple of ways to go about writing a | | | | songs by using contrast. As I mentioned before, |
| melody. You can either create it off of an already | | | | the chorus and the verse are separated |
| created lyric, or you can start with the melody | | | | stylistically by contrast. You can create contrast |
| itself. | | | | by using a different note range, or just by |
| When starting with a lyric, it is pretty simple to | | | | switching up the melody a bit. |
| come up with the raw inspiration for the melody. | | | | Whichever way you decide to craft your melody, |
| Many songwriters start at the chorus and just | | | | it is important to remember that the melody and |
| speak the words aloud. They are inspired by the | | | | the lyric need to support each other. The melody |
| basic rhythm and pitch of natural speech since we | | | | can be used to highlight key lines in your lyric |
| use this in our everyday lives to communicate | | | | adding to the memorability of the song and the |
| emotion. You can speak the lyric naturally, then | | | | overall impact it has on your listener. |