What is Melodic Rhythm
When you play the melodic words presented,
you get 3 or 4 notes without any rhythm per se. It's just
the notes. The melodic word is just a sequence of notes, and
these sequences of notes are universal. Everybody uses them,
mostly unconsciously. However, what makes the difference between
two melodies using the same sequence of notes is the melodic
rhythm. So, what is melodic rhythm? Basically, it's the way
that the sequence of notes is played. Click
here to listen to the C major chord in root position.
Now look at the examples below
Now you can see, each one used the same melodic
word, but because the melodic rhythm was different, each one
sounded quite different.
So, how do you start to get melodic rhythm
to your new melodic words? Well, you have 2 methods. If you're
the kind of person that creates melodies first, you can pick
out a couple of melodic words and start trying some melodic
rhythm on the notes. The second way, you use your lyrics.
Your lyrics provide the rhythm that will drive the sequence
of notes to create a unique melodic statement. Since most
singer/songwriters are lyricists first, I'll show various
examples of how this can be done. Let's take the following
phrase:
Was it something in the sky?
The first thing that were going to do is to
count the number of syllables. The above example has 7 syllables.
The next thing that were going to do is to
group these syllables in a way that sounds natural and with
the accents falling in the right places. In the case of 7
syllables, you can have smaller number groups.
These are:
4+3
4: Was is something 3: in the sky
2+2+3
2: Was it 2: something 3: in the sky
2+2+2+1
2: Was it 2: something 2: in the 1: sky
6+1
6: Was is something in the 1: sky
The reason you break them up this way is that
it makes it easier to select melodic words.
Melodic words can have 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 notes.
So, by looking at the number patterns, you can:
Use a 4 note melodic word, followed by a 3
note melodic word (4+3)
2 note melodic word, 2 note melodic word 2 note melodic word
followed by 1 note (2+2+2+1).
Also, 2+2+2+1 can also mean 2 repeated notes on a 3 note melodic
word
6+1 can use a 6 note scale segment followed by the last note
of a melodic word
The next thing you do is using the patterns
out lined below, speak your lyrics, so as to accent different
rhythms that they can generate.
1. Let's group the syllables
in the following pattern: 2+2+2+1 - this means grouping the
syllables in pairs and leaving one note for the end.
Spoken
Example
Next, we select some melodic words. For this
example, we're going to use thirds and end on the C
e
to g _____
f to a _____ g
to b _____ c
note
Now let's add some melodic rhythm to these
melodic words, using the melodic rhythm from our spoken example.
Sung
Example.
2. For this next example,
we'll break up the syllables as 2+2+3 but with an irregular
rhythm on the 2+2..
Spoken
example.
This example uses a fourth going down the
C to G (2), color note A going to the fifth G (2),root position
5th variation E, G, C(3) (c g - a g - e g c)
C
to G ____
A to G ____ Chord
in root position, 5th variation
Now let's add some melodic rhythm to these
melodic words, using the melodic rhythm from our spoken example.
Sung
Example
3. Grouping as 4+3
Spoken
example
This example uses a C chord scale (4) for
the first half and an F in second inversion, variation 2 (3)
for the second half
C
chord scale ____ F
second inversion 5th variation
We add the rhythm from our spoken example
over the 2 chords
Sung
Example
4. Grouping as 6+1
Spoken
example
This example we'll use a scale segment of
6 notes, followed by the last chord note in this melodic word
in first inversion.
e-f-g-a-b-c-g
1st
inversion scale segment
Using the above rhythm, we get this example
Musical
example
5. Grouping 2+2+2+1
Spoken
example
For this, we're going to use a chord in 1st
inversion, repeat each note twice, and for the last note,
go to a color note d and back to the root.
C
chord in first inversion __ D
color note to C
Applying the melodic rhythm from our spoken
example we get the following:
Musical
example
6. Grouping 1+ 2+2+2
Spoken
example
In this example, another version of repeated
notes, we'll use the same interval, a minor second repeated
3 times, starting on the major seventh and going to the root,
ending on the seventh
Music
example
Using the spoken rhythm
Sung
example.
Any one of the above examples can work, depending
on the song you’re writing. And certainly you don't have
to use EVERY possibility in your lyrics. Probably 2 or 3 will
give you enough ideas for a good melody. The main good thing
that the exercise above does is get you out of bad habits
that all songwriters have. They write a lyric, or have a lyric
idea, get some melodic idea going with that lyric and that
becomes the melody of the song.
By trying the above, you can experiment with
your lyric, and probably come up with something much better
than the first draft of a melody that came to your head. Remember
that in music, just like in literature, great writing is re-writing,
or re-working what you originally meant to say, differently.
As you learn more melodic words, and get the hang of writing
melody objectively, you'll find that your original melodic
idea might not necessarily be the best.
But the most important thing, it will give
you a technique for objectively writing music. At first it
will be difficult if you've never worked like this, having
this much awareness of the creative process. But as you become
better at this, you'll write better melodies with greater
diversity.
