What is Musical Melody?

Music & melody both are inseparable. One of the most important part of music is melody. Melody is the basic element of music. A melody in music is a simple collection of musical notes that is audibly pleasing. A note is a sound with a particular pitch and time duration. Attach a series of notes together, one by one, it consists of a melody. But it’s not vice versa. It clearly create the order of pitches rather it orders movement from pitch to pitch. Moreover in simple language it’s the tune.

Where is the melody?

Melody is everywhere. Even a non professionally equipped person can recognize melody easily, so it’s the most easily recognized aspect of music. Melody can be found in any genre of music, whether it’s nursery rhymes, children lullaby or romantic to pop rock any music all of them are having melody of their own. Melodies can be simple or intricate. Just remember, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or Hush Little Baby are the most popular children’s lullabies are examples of a simple melody. These melodies are easy to recognize & learn to play easily. It actually helps to start the beginner to learn music lesson. So, learning melody is easy.

What are the components of musical melody?

The melody of music consists of two main components:

1. Pitch

   When the quality of a sound or music whether it’s higher or lower can be judged by the actual audio vibration produced by an instrument. These pitches are arranged as a series of notes. Melody is made up of high and low pitched notes those are connected with each other.

2. Duration

   In melody includes the duration of time that each pitch will sound. These durations are divided into lengths such as whole notes, half notes, quarter-note triplets, and more.

Melody & Harmony

Both melody and harmony play pivotal roles in the creation of any musical output. Sometimes melodies are substantial enough to be music on their own, but it may sound empty and lonesome. A full musical composition has many parts and may consist of a melody, harmonies and rhythm. Harmony acts as a melody that complement or support melody.

Melody is a sequence of single notes that are musically soothing to the listener. It’s the tune of a song. Whereas Harmony is commonly the combination of simultaneously sounded musical notes, i.e chords.

Melody is the first step to create a music, harmony depends on melody. So, a harmony builds upon an already existing melody. A harmony needs a melody to exist. Melody doesn’t need any harmony to create.

Melodies unified shape, range, and movement. Harmonies are either subordinate or coordinate. That always support melodies.

Melodic Motion

Two types of motions are there –

1. Conjunct motion

   A melody that rises and falls slowly, only small pitch changes between one note and the next, is conjunct

2. Disjunct motion

   If a melody has notes that leap from one note to another, like this, then it is called disjunct motion. This type of melody that rises and falls quickly.

3. Mixed motion

   Many melodies are a mixture of conjunct and disjunct motion. A melody may show conjunct motion, with small changes in pitch from one note to the next, or disjunct motion, with large leaps.

Melodic Contour

It is the shape of the melody. Same pitch may make a music boring, contour serves as a main focus of the song and acts as a means of communication. It is the quality of movement of a melody.

Countermelody

It is a melody that complements the main melody in a piece of music.  It  is a sequence of notes. A subordinate melody that is sounded simultaneously with the principal one.