Creating a musical melody
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Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can explore creative processes to compose short melodies as starting points for free compositions.
Key learning points
- Good melodies use some repetition and have a distinctive shape and can use conjunct and disjunct intervals.
- Melodies all have rhythm. There are a variety of rhythmic choices that can be used to reflect the character of a melody.
- A melody can be expressive with appropriate tempo, dynamics and articulation.
Keywords
Disjunct - Movement by leaps in a melodic line is disjunct.
Conjunct - Conjunct describes movement by steps in a melodic line eg. tones and semitones.
Interval - An interval is the distance between two notes.
Articulation - Articulation is how the note is played eg. legato, staccato or accented.
Common misconception
Using disjunct intervals in a melody means the notes can be placed anywhere.
Disjunct intervals need a sense of order to the music and should be used in some sort of pattern in the same way that conjunct intervals should.
Teacher tip
Encourage pupils to move away from typical melodic composing conventions and consider the shape and character of the melody rather than the length of phrases in bars and only choose pitches that move in step only or triadic movement.
Equipment
A keyboard (or other suitable instrument) or DAW/notation software
Licence
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