Learn music theory for writing melodies in 20 minutes

A melody is a linear succession of musical tones that listeners perceive as a single entity. It's a powerful way to facilitate feelings to listeners.

Music theory is provided as tools to help craft your own universe. Feel free to break the rules if necessary.

• Scale: the set of different notes ordered by fundamental frequency or pitch • Range: the distance between lowest and highest notes • Contour: peak changes that form the shape of the melody • Motion: dynamic jumps from one note to another • Intervals: the distance between two different notes • Color and Tonality: how the sound is pronounced in electronic music

Understanding melody elements helps you craft better musical ideas while maintaining creative freedom.

Scale is a set of ordered notes by fundamental frequency. Common scales include major scale, minor scale, and chromatic scale (popular in techno music).

• Wider range creates dramatic sound due to super lows and highs in the same melody • Tighter ranges are easier to hum or sing and tend to be catchier • Range choice directly affects the emotional impact of your melody

A short phrase with tight range sounds like a regular melody, but increasing the range to two octaves creates a completely different feeling.

Choose wider ranges for dramatic impact and tighter ranges for catchier, more memorable melodies.

Contour is the shape created by drawing a line through all notes in your melody. It reflects different feelings: ascending contours create uplifting sensations, descending contours release tension.

• Dynamic motion creates sophisticated feeling with frequent ups and downs • Spikes are sudden jumps in notes that can surprise listeners • Motion choices affect how engaging and interesting your melody becomes

Intervals are distances between two notes. Playing notes sequentially creates melodic intervals. A perfect fifth gives satisfactory feeling, while a fifth to sixth creates tension suggesting the melody isn't concluded.

Melodic techno often uses one-five-six intervals for uneasy melancholic feeling, which is an overutilized technique in this genre.

• Melodies have sections like A, B, and C sections similar to track structure • Sections maintain consistency while allowing evolution during the track • Recycling and rearranging sections keeps melody interesting while preserving cohesion • Changing sections at the highest point of the track creates dynamic progression

Color is the sonic character created by sound design and pronunciation. This is particularly important in electronic dance music and completely changes the character of the melody.

How the melody is pronounced and designed is crucial for electronic dance music and affects the listener's perception of the entire melody.

Beyond the notes themselves, the sonic qualities and structural organization of your melody are essential to creating compelling music.

• Motives: shortest detectable idea with distinctive pitch and rhythm combination, typically 2-5 notes • Phrases: longer melodic ideas that express a definitive concept but may need additional phrases to complete the melody • Melodies: the main idea perceived as a single complete entity without needing additional elements

Motives are like single words, phrases are like short clauses, and melodies are like complete sentences that stand alone.

A full melody is often constructed by combining motives and phrases together with variation, creating a complete musical thought.

These definitions are interpreted differently across genres, particularly in electronic dance music versus classical music traditions.

• Utilize bigger range for prominence • Evolve during the track progression • May have complex contours and more motion • Genre-dependent in complexity, boundaries are not always clear

In techno music, create dramatic leads with wider range and catchy contours. Sound design matters more than scale adherence. Dissonance is acceptable for techno texture.

Melodies don't need to be single notes; they can be chord progressions. This is typical in driving main room techno tracks where a chord progression serves as the primary melodic element.

Balance drama, catchiness, and genre-appropriate dissonance to create effective lead melodies that fit your track.

• Short range for catchiness • Avoid really dynamic motion • Keep contour smooth and simple • Use familiar intervals that everybody knows

Deep house (Prida) is characterized by strong beat and very catchy melodies, requiring careful balance of structure and completion.

A phrase establishes the idea but may feel incomplete. Completing it with a full melody creates the sense of closure and resolution necessary for catchiness.

In looping melodies, maintain slight incompleteness to encourage repeated listening, but ensure the melody is clear enough to be recognized as complete when played with the track.

• Sit in the background without taking over the track • Simpler structure with less contour, range, variation, and motion • Fill up the track and strengthen ambient qualities • Act as auxiliary melody emphasizing specific emotions

Keep background melodies simple and focus on enhancing ambience rather than creating complexity. They support the main melody.

Background melodies can enhance various parts of a track, from the chorus to the beginning of drops. They create dynamic range between main and supporting elements.

Even bass sounds can function as background melodies to enhance ambience, adding harmonic depth without competing with main melodic elements.

FX melodies, also called color melodies, have no strict rules. Their main purpose is creating sound in the background that fills space and enhances ambience.

You can do whatever you want with FX melodies as long as it fits the track, making them the most experimental melodic element.

• Use presets with heavy effects like reverbs and delays • Create trails and atmospheric textures • Layer effects to build complex sonic spaces • Let the effects play out naturally rather than forcing precise note timing

FX melodies are challenging to perform in real time due to heavy processing. They work best as automated or pre-designed elements that enhance the track's overall sonic texture.