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In music, a melody is a series of linear events or a succession, not a simultaneity as in a chord. However, this succession must contain change of some kind and be perceived as a single entity (possibly gestalt) to be called a melody. Most specifically this includes patterns of changing pitches and durations, while most generally it includes any interacting patterns of changing events or quality. "Melody may be said to result where there are interacting patterns of changing events occuring in time." (DeLone et. al. (Eds.) 1975, p.270-1)"The events occuring in time must involve change of some kind to be understood as related or unrelated...The essential elements of any melody are duration, pitch, and quality [timbre, texture, and loudness]" Melodies often consist of one or more musical phrases, motifs, and is usually repeated throughout a song or piece in various forms. Melodies may also be described by their melodic motion or the pitches or the intervals between pitches (predominately conjuct or disjunct or with further restrictions), pitch range, tension and release, continuity and coherence, cadence, and shape (ibid, p.290-301).
"Many extant explinations [of melody] confine us [sic] to specific stylistic models, and they are too exclusive." (ibid, p.270) Different musical styles use melody in different ways. For example:
- Rock music, melodic music, and other forms of popular music and folk musicFolk music in the original sense of the term, is music by and of the people. Folk music arose, and best survives, in societies not yet affected by mass communication and the commercialization of culture. It normally was shared and performed by the entire tend to pick one or two melodies ( verseVerse is a writing that uses meter as its primary organisational mode, as opposed to prose, which uses grammatical and discoursal units like sentences and paragraphs. Verse may also use rhyme and other technical devices that are often associated with poet and chorusFor the communications operator see Chorus Communications : For the computer operating system see ChorusOS In classical music a chorus is any substantial group of performers in a play, revue, musical or opera who act more or less as one. It can also mean) and stick with them; much variety may occur in the phrasing and lyricsLyrics are the written words in a song. Lyrics can be written during composition of a song or after the accompanying music is composed. Sometimes, however, music is adapted to or written for a song or poem that has already been written. Not all lyrics gen. "Gino Stefani makes appropriation the chief criterion for his 'popular' definition of melody (Stefani 1987a). Melody, he argues, is music 'at hand'; it is that dimension which the common musical competence extracts (often with little respect for the integrity of the source), appropriates and uses for a variety of purposes: singing, whistling, dancing, and so on." (Middleton, p.96)
- In western classical musicThis article is about the broad genre of classical music in the Western musical tradition. For the period of music in the 18th century see Classical music era, for articles on classical music of non-Western cultures, see: List of classical music tradition, composerA composer is a person who writes music. The term refers particularly to someone who writes music in some type of musical notation, thus allowing others to perform the music. This distinguishes the composer from a musician who improvises. However, a persos often introduce an initial melody, or themeIn music, a theme is the initial or primary melody. After the principal theme is announced, a second melody, sometimes called a countertheme or secondary theme may play. In a three-part fugue, the principal theme is announced three times in three differen, and then create variations. Classical music often has several melodic layers, called polyphony, such as those in a fugue, a type of counterpoint. Often melodies are constructed from motifs or short melodic fragments, such as the opening of Beethoven's Ninth. Richard Wagner popularized the concept of a leitmotif: a motif or melody associated with a certain idea, person or place.
- Balinese gamelan music often uses complicated variations and alterations of a single melody played simultaneously, called heterophony.
See also: unified field.
