Day 1 – Creating a Melody

Creating a Melody

We suggest you make yourself familiar with the following articles as they serve as the basis and inspiration for all the materials of Day 1.

Tips and inspiration for creating strong and fluent melodies ...

• you might want to start with a scale, probably a Church Mode as they build the foundation of our Western music
• pick your scale because of your emotional response, not logic
• be aware of form and patterns (this not only helps the audience to follow your idea, but it also reduces your work)
• you don't have to stick to your scale throughout the whole idea (be free)
• keep your melody simple (singable)

I like the Lydian scale a lot, so let's start with that one! Don't forget to pick your root tone for the scale, or you won't be able to determine the scale tones!

Obviously, the C# is not part of the C Lydian scale, so where does it come from? Let's focus on patterns and switch our perspective to Interval Theory. Things will get more clearly then.

Bars 7 to 10 follow the Lydian scale over the C root tone, and only scale tones show up thus far. Additionally, bar 10 became a separate building block that I extended. It's an alternation between 2 chromatic steps down and 3 chromatic steps down. That's how I landed on the C#.

Although bar 10 still lives on the Diatonic side, it also transitions into Interval Theory . Remember, you don't have to stick to your original scale.

Action Steps

Leaving a scale will be unfamiliar and maybe even confusing to the Diatonic composer, and that's very understandable. However, embrace that freedom and don't be scared of it.

To give you a clear and easy-to-follow methodology, please go through the action steps on your end, and write your own version of a melody. We'll develop that melodic idea further over the next few days, step by step, and eventually bring in harmony, decoration, and other functions!

1. Pick your Church mode and a root tone.
   
2. Start with one little building block that you can either repeat or re-use in another register (probably as a variation). Use scale tones only for this step.
3. Make your melody singable and straightforward.
4. Find one or more spots in your melody that you want to extend using Interval Theory. This extension can be based on as many notes as you wish. However, two or three tones will be sufficient to define your 'string' that you want to extend. Don't worry about leaving the scale during this step.
5. If you want, you can come back to Diatonic thinking and flow back into your chosen scale at any time.
6. Respect form and bring in repetitions. Your audience will appreciate it. If you don't know what form to pick, start with either AABA or AABB.