What Makes a Melody?

What makes a melody memorable - pitch, rhythm, and phrasing. Learn the key ingredients that make notes singable and catchy. Free interactive lesson.

2

Melodic Contour

Melodic contour explained - ascending, descending, arch, and wave shapes. How the direction of a melody affects emotion. Free interactive lesson.

3

Steps & Leaps

Steps and leaps in melody - conjunct (stepwise) vs disjunct (leaping) motion, and how to balance them for natural melodies. Free lesson.

4

Chord Tones & Passing Tones

How to target chord tones on strong beats and use passing tones to connect them. Essential melody-writing technique. Free interactive lesson.

5

Motif & Repetition

Musical motifs explained - how short melodic ideas are repeated and varied using sequence, inversion, and retrograde techniques. Free lesson.

6

Call & Response

Call and response in music - how antecedent-consequent phrasing creates musical conversation. Hear question-and-answer melodies. Free lesson.

7

Melodic Rhythm

How the rhythm of a melody shapes its character and interacts with harmonic rhythm. Create urgency or calm with rhythmic choices. Free lesson.

8

Melody Over Chords

How chord changes influence melody note choices - targeting chord tones, using tension notes, and making melody and harmony work together. Free lesson.