How to compose a melody?

If a person has a desire to compose a melody, it means that he, at a minimum, is partial to music and has a certain creative streak. The question is how well he is musically literate and whether he has the ability to write. As they say, “it’s not the gods who burn the pots,” and you don’t have to be born Mozart to write your own music.

So, let’s try to figure out how to compose a melody. I think it would be correct to give different recommendations for different levels of preparation, explaining in more detail for beginning musicians.

Entry level (a person “from scratch” in music)

Now there are many conversion computer programs that allow you to simply sing a tune and get a processed result in the form of musical notation. This, while convenient and entertaining, is still more like a game of composing music. A more serious approach involves learning the basics of music theory.

First of all, you need to get acquainted with the modal organization of music, because the nature of the melody directly depends on whether it is major or minor. You should learn to hear the tonic, this is the support of any motive. All other degrees of the mode (there are 7 in total) somehow gravitate towards the tonic. The next stage should be mastering the notorious “three chords”, on which you can play any simple song in a simplified manner. These are triads – tonic (built from the 1st step of the mode, the same “tonic”), subdominant (4th step) and dominant (5th step). When your ears learn to hear the relationship of these basic chords (a criterion for this may be the ability to independently select a song by ear), you can try to compose simple melodies.

Rhythm is no less important in music; its role is similar to the role of rhyme in poetry. In principle, rhythmic organization is simple arithmetic, and theoretically it is not difficult to learn. And in order to feel the musical rhythm, you need to listen to a lot of different music, listening specifically to the rhythmic pattern, analyzing what expressiveness it gives to the music.

In general, ignorance of music theory does not prevent the birth of interesting melodies in your head, but knowledge of it greatly helps to express these melodies.

Intermediate level (a person knows the basics of musical literacy, can select by ear, may have studied music)

In this case, everything is simpler. Some musical experience allows you to accurately build a melody so that it is heard harmoniously and does not contradict musical logic. At this stage, a novice author can be advised not to pursue excessive complexity of music. It’s no coincidence that it’s not usually the most intricate melodies that become hits. A successful melody is memorable and easy to sing (if it is designed for a vocalist). You should not be afraid of repetitions in music; on the contrary, repetitions help perception and memorization. It will be interesting if some “fresh” note appears in the melody and the usual chord series – for example, a resolution to a different key or an unexpected chromatic move.

And, of course, the melody must carry some meaning, express some feeling, mood.

High level of knowledge of music theory (not necessarily implying professional training)

There is no need to give advice on “how to compose a melody” to people who have reached certain heights in music. Here it is more appropriate to wish creative success and inspiration. After all, it is inspiration that distinguishes a craft that anyone can master from real creativity.