Melody

The complexities of music abound. There are many things that happen during a musical piece that exist in time and relationship with the other things. One of those things is melody.

I work with children and adolescents with developmental and psychiatric disorders aged 5-22 years. My primary instrument is voice with additional forays into trumpet and guitar. I have functional skills on the piano and am getting better with playing in front of people.

I write MANY songs for my clients during my job. The particular songs I write are often concerned with simple topics, have simple lyrics and rhythms, and have catchy melodies (if I say so myself). When I am reading songbooks written for my population, I often find that the songs are too long or too complex for many of my students. As a result, I write my own songs.

Melodies, for my students, are often more successful when they are repetitive in nature, follow scalar patterns rather than incorporating skips, and are quick. When a melody is difficult to replicate, my students do not spend much time singing.

I want them to sing.

There is a difference between a melody that is engaging and one that is difficult. An engaging melody stays in your head. It is easily replicated and starts to take over part of your mind when you mention the words or the song title. It comes out of your mouth in situations other than the music situation where you first heard the melody. You find yourself singing the melody all the time (good and bad).

My current melodic obsession is Beautiful sung by Christina Aguilera. One of my interns had led a brief lyric experience with the song, and I have not been able to finish the song in my head. I have tried all of the tricks that I know to get rid of earworms, but have not been able to exorcise the melody.

A bad melody is difficult to recall, sing, or even listen to.

I have written MANY bad melodies. Songs that did not flow easily into my memory, even after trying to memorize the songs. Songs that have been incomplete in some way - missing a phrase or a resolution or a rhyme - all things that are not really melodic in nature but other elements. When the melody flows, the other elements flow as well.

Tips for writing melodies (that have helped me over the years)
  • Know your target audience
  • Keep it simple - scalar melodies are often easier for folks to remember than melodies with large skips
  • Sing them to yourself until they are easy to recall

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