Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange
Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [melody]

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

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Why can't drums produce melody?

A note is a vibration at a certain frequency. A drum produces a tone with a certain pitch much like a string percussed with a mallet. Why is a drum unfit for playing a melody while a string inside a piano (or any other melodic instrument) is very…
Three Diag
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What is the relationship between the melody line and the rhythm chords?

Let's say I've written a song with the chord progression I-IV-V in the key of A (just as an example). So, the chords I'm playing are A-D-E. When playing a lead over this rhythm, what notes do I need to stick to over each chord? That is, when…
Don
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How to dramatically change the feeling of a song while keeping the melody largely the same?

How to dramatically change the feeling of a song while keeping the melody largely the same? Let's say we have a happy, upbeat pop song and we want to turn it into a sad song (or vice versa). Is it generally possible? Does the feeling of a song…
netvope
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Learning to create melodies

I've researched my question on Google before and came across a few threads which I've read a couple of times. So far I've got into music theory and understand scales, how chords are formed, I know what intervals are in terms of half steps apart…
MJohnson52
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Is it possible to find the correct chords from melody notes alone?

I'm caught up in this thought. My friend gave me just the melody notes of a song. Here it is, So, here is the problem: "without having the chords supplied, there is no way of knowing what the chords should be." For example: The E note that begins…
John Eipe
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Why do melodies have harmonies?

It seems to me that every melody can be assigned chords. Although different people may assign different chords, in many cases, only certain chords (a small subset of all possible chord choices) seem to fit a melody better than others. What are the…
cyborg
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What are the most common ways to "decorate" a melody?

Yes, I know, there are way too many possibilities and it depends on the style of the music... I would be happy with an incomplete list for beginners (like me). Here is what I have so far: Accompanying triads, very common in fake books, see also How…
Ali
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How to make melodies effectively?

Are there any tricks that help make melodies besides just experimenting until you find something that sounds nice?
Mdek
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Any quick way to know if my tune is already used?

When I come up with a lick/melody, there always lingers that question of "Has this melody already been used?" Should I worry about it or is there a way to find out without too much hassle?
manejar
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How to make C lydian not sound like G ionian?

What are some concrete melodic and harmonic tools to establish the correct tonic center in a lydian melody? The reason for asking about lydian specifically is that there is no minor seventh for the dominant, which would seem like a sure-fire way to…
oyvind
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How do I become a better electronic music producer?

I love music and I would love to make it and maybe become a music composer. However I do not know anything about music theory or anything. I can't play any instrument or so. How can I learn to make nice melodies? I cannot make even simple ones. I…
user3144737
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Does the starting note for a song have to be the starting note of its scale?

Does a scale always have to start off with the note it is named after? For example, the Dm scale is defgab♭cd`. If I wanted to sing a song in D minor, would I have to start with the note D? Or could it be any note as long as it's within the scale?…
skyfox009
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If we play a melody backward will its characteristics be the same?

I have tried with the melody from "love will tear us apart" and I think it's beautiful.
Stojkoski Nikola
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Can this Arabic scale be described in Western terms?

Does anyone know what scale this is? I know it may be a scale that's not used in Western countries and also uses quarter tones...but can it be described in Western music terms? It sounds similar to the Phrygian mode of the major scale except there…
John MC
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What do you call this alternating melodic pattern?

I hear the following in string parts a lot in intense movie scenes or certain styles of music. I don't think that this falls under the categorization of Alberti Bass since it's functioning as a melodic part and not a bass part. You can assume that…
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