Melodic Direction ConjunctDisjunct Intervals.

Example of melodic direction. Take for example the tune Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. 1-4 and excerpt 2 mm. We will look at songs with a flat melodic contour this is.

Motion by step or stepwise motion is when a melody moves by consectective notes in the scale. For an example see the class anthology p. Most people can hum a variety of melodies from tunes learned in childhood such as Mary Had a Little Lamb to Christmas songs to famous classical melodies such as Beethovens Ode to Joy to the melody of the current hot songs on the Top 40.

Because it doesnt come back to the same pitch over and over again this type of melody is quite challenging to sing. The musical scores for movies and television contain themes which can be developed as in a symphony or may be used very much like operatic leitmotifs. For verse melodies try combining downward-moving melodic shapes with an overall upward motion.

The melody is carrying each song and making it stand out. In songwriting you can only ever speak of generalizations. Students review High and Low sounds then hear examples of melodic sounds going UP from low to high.

Music would be boringly predictable if it meant simply following a set of rules. In this video I will provide various melodic contour examples and the melodic contour definition. For example in the music John Williams composed for the Star Wars movies there are melodic themes that are associated with the main characters.

1 excerpt 1 mm. Pay close attention to your melodic contour. In a conjunct melodic motion the melodic phrase moves in a stepwise fashion.