Dear Jamin,
The answers to this are so many and varied that it is a most
difficult question. The most difficult thing is to describe the
process of creating coherent melodies (and marrying them to good
harmony) in a concise way, and no description is meaningful until the
budding composer has become familiar with good examples.
Folk melodies can provide simple good examples (Shenandoah), and
Stephen Foster wrote quite a few songs that could provide a basic
template (Beautiful Dreamer, Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair).
The American standard song repertoire provides a multitude of more
complex examples, like Stardust, All the Things You Are or Come Rain
or Come Shine.
This is just to get you started. Happy Birthday ain't bad either -
Take Me Out to the Ball Game, When the Saints Go Marching In - these
are just things that jump quickly to mind that seem to be indelible.
Stephen Sondheim, when asked if there were a song he wished he had
written, answered, "Waitin' for the Robert E. Lee". Sure seems like
a good choice to me.
Hope this helps you with examples. Anything else is music theory.
These songs are music fact.
Good luck,
Chuck
On Jul 17, 2006, at 11:04 AM, Jamin Hoffman wrote:
Dear all -
As one of my happy duties as orchestra director at the
high school where I teach, I also teach a course
called "Beginning Electronic Music," wherein I try to
teach totally inexperienced and not-too-motivated high
school students (with no musical background, I might
add) how to "compose" using tools such as GarageBand,
Sibelius, and Logic.
Most of them just want to write "rap beats," which is
not a problem for me, but I really have been trying to
introduce them to chord progressions and melodic
composition, too. Obviously, writing good melodies is
tough for any composer, even the best, but it's the
area in which they definitely have the most problems.
So, here (finally) is my question - what do you think
are the best melodies out there, that I can use as
examples of successful melodies for my students?
(These can be from any genre - classical, jazz, pop,
etc.) Also, for those of you who DO compose (I
don't), do you have any suggestions for marrying a
melody with the chord progression? It's boring if it
matches too closely, and it can be jarring if it
doesn't match at all (yes, I know about polytonality -
we don't need to go there, yet) - so what do you think
is a good balance? Do you start with chords and then
go to the melody, or vice versa, or both (or neither)?
I'm sending this out to several lists at once, so my
apologies in advance for cross-postings. Thanks -
The Befuddled Perfessor
(Mr.) Jamin Hoffman
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Chuck Israels
230 North Garden Terrace
Bellingham, WA 98225-5836
phone (360) 671-3402
fax (360) 676-6055
www.chuckisraels.com
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