So many people in this comment section seem to be regarding this as a formula that removes all creative process from writing a melody... maybe because they weren't paying attention, lack critical thinking, or just knee-jerk commented and left the video. She didn't outline ANY hard rules at all. Not once did she say "you MUST follow this or your melody will suck". And even so, the process she gave basically boils down to this: First you figure out where you want your melody to go. Then you figure out how to take your melody there. Which isn't even remotely a formula, it's just a way of writing melodies that, face it, makes perfect sense.
+Masaaki Hosoi Agreed, also she's teaching the basics of melody writing, its impossible to get someone who didnt write anything for his whole life (like me) and say "go crazy, no rules!", it will end up sounding like shit (as all my attempts did untill now), the same way you cant teach someone how to draw without teaching light and shadow techniques first, after the person masters the technique then it can go, "oh you know, i think i will make my shadows reversed" and it will actually look good because he knows what a shadow is and how it works.... You cant escape from the standard rules if you dont know them.
I am retired now, but I have just started to read music and play the piano. I found your video informative. I never understood Scale Degrees ;however, this has given me a much better understanding. Thank you very much. Terry Wright.
I write my own melodies on my guitar and on my piano and I don't know anything about reading/writing music or these formulas. I only go by what sounds/feels good. This video has shown me what I was doing. I never thought about these concepts of tension and release before. Now I can understand better what it is that I was doing without even knowing it. I think its important to know the theories behind things because I have been stumbling across melodies for years. Now I think I might be able to compose something quicker especially when I get stuck In repetition and don't know where to go from there. I constantly find myself stuck with unfinished melodies. I believe this will help. Thanks for posting the video.
Agreed! I mainly go for what sounds/feels good. But I also like to know what I am doing, theory wise, so I can go for some types of sounds/melodies quicker than just randomly noodling/going for trial and error. Music theory must be seen as descriptive and not prescriptive :)
People say that: they do not read music (simply play what feels good). But that does actually work unless your playing is entirely alone. If you want to COUNT (so as to be in time with other players .. on the same note) you have to have measures (bars) and you must count 1-2-3-4 and know which measure are the others playing. Even drums and bass (rhythm) have to count. .. and to count you have to be cognizant of measures.
Well, music is very similar to language. It is like native speakers may not know their grammar but still use their language according to its rules. So they kind of "know" the grammar without conciously knowing it. Once they want to work with their language professionally (writer, lector, editor, teacher) a concious awareness of the grammar would be very helpful, though.
Erick Fenstermaker If you were happy writing whatever sounds felt good and you were happy with your results, by all means go back to that and forget about this video!
As a conductor, performer, writer of music, music educator, and theorist, I found this video to be an excellent guide for folks building melodies, even as a model that can refresh the professional. Sometimes it's excellent to review things like this to learn about different approaches to the creative process. I found the class melody to be quite interesting as well as innovative as far as their use of leaps in the consequent phrase followed with appropriate stepwise motion in the opposite direction. An overall excellent video tutorial.
I agree 100%, what a Excellent Video to stumble up on, l went and brought another a Hal Leonard Wide staff Manuscript to take down all Examples and note taking, This is such a big help Explaining formats to follow for when l write over Progression`s And also how 8 bars are periods and 4 bars are Phrase`s i have even a better understanding of a AABA format and even how now to compose one.
Look at all these clueless people in the comment section, thinking that music should be written "from the heart" without "following rules". How much music have you written, played, or studied? Music theory is a FRAMEWORK; once you have internalized it, you can intuitively pick the melodies and progressions that best suit the story you're trying to convey-establishing tonality first for your emotional base, substituting a minor chord for a major or vice versa, shifting to an out-of-key chromatic chord to emphasize a certain emotion, adding tensions to... well, add tension and color, understanding the guide tones of your harmonic progression and how to employ them to create tension and release, understanding which notes in a scale lead to which, and a metric shitton more that I could just keep on going on and on about. You can even intentionally disregard it, at times. There are certain things that you don't do in music because they just sound like shit to the human ear and have been established as such, and once you understand what these are, you keep going. But you NEED theory. Pretty much EVERY famous classical composer understood theory and manipulated it to their own tastes.
_I could just keep on going on and on about._ Please go on, this is the most informative comment for someone like me, who's trying to digest and learn it all, that I've read so far. If you have any references, be so kind and reference me to them. Contrary to what 21st century may seem like, even at this age it's hard to get hold of valuable information.
I totally agree. Music is a language, as is English. Poetry or a story can be written from the heart, but in order to write, you need to understand the rules of English.
***** Music, just like anything in life, is made up of certain elements. If you know the music theory, you have conscious control over all the elements of music and can easily manipulate them to create desired effects. It's just so much superior to know all the details, than not.
***** Well, that's almost true. Ok, you don't need music theory per se, but trying to make music without it is-I"ll extend your analogy-more like trying to pound a nail into wood using completely random objects around the house instead of just using a hammer. Maybe it works better; most of the time, it doesn't. The thing is, theory didn't exist before music did-it was developed over time by musicians who came up with rules that reminded musicians that doing "this" makes the listener feel "that", etc., which made composers' lives much easier and enabled them to develop more complex ideas. And there are certain "standard calibrations" that human ears across the world follow: Octaves, fifths, scales of different pitches, and tonics, which are the foundation of pretty much every musical system in the world. Of course, as musicians we have to avoid falling into the traps of predictability and strict formulaic composition as well, but mostly because the listener would get bored. And the final judge of any music one creates or mixes, too, really should be the ear-if it sounds great to your ear, it works; if it doesn't, maybe not so much.
Withme Whostoned Sorry for the wait. Most of this theory information I got by going on an archive binge across the Internet, skimming stuff off the top of various articles, but I have a lot of bookmarks too, and I'll just list a few of them here because I'm extremely lazy and I don't want to explain everything right now. www.thejazzresource.com/ Jazz theory is great. It was made for pushing the envelope, but thanks to its mostly sensory rather than theoretical tradition it doesn't branch so far off into the abstract and avant-garde so that it's entirely inaccessible, with the exception of free jazz. Basically, that means to me a greater realm of expression in music. www2.siba.fi/muste1/index.php?id=63&la=en A bit of explanation of how notes tend to work in scales, melodically. utminers.utep.edu/charlesl/chords.html A very big chart of harmonic possibilities. www.filmmusicnotes.com/ You'll be surprised how much you can learn from John Williams. www.howmusicreallyworks.com/ I haven't actually bought the book, but reading these first 6 chapters offered free did give me some valuable information. music.tutsplus.com/ Though this website is mostly for digital music producers, there are a few theory tutorials that I've found handy. The mixing tutorials here are also quite good for home producing. Remember: Don't trust everything, especially since I'm not exactly the greatest musician myself; just take and apply the parts that sound good (in practice, not on paper) to your music.
My parents had to squeeze out extra money for me to take piano lessons back in the 60's. I started when I was 10 years old. By the time I got to lessons like this, I was paying TUITION in a 4 year University of which cost us Thousands of dollars. I can't believe my eyes when I see complained posted in some tutorials. Then I understand that anyone who has any complains are not here to learn music from the "C" scale on up. They want to be Jerry Lee Lewis in 2 weeks. lol However, with ALL the music I have been trained for, I still come back to lessons like this. I am a 65 year old Female Musician of over 50 years and here I am still learning and refreshing my knowledge. Thank You Very Much.
You need to learn the rules, before you can break them! Knowing both what the rules are and why they exist is an excellent starting point for some creative writing.
The only way people will understand a video like this is to make it ALL SIMPLE as possible! But to give good details! And not all beginners know what Major and minor chords are nor do they know how to count to music!
Thank you Ma'am, I have been searching to get an accurate explanation, here I got it. May God bless you to make videos atleast upto 8th grade. So that many leaners can be your deciples and one fine day some of them will reveal to the world that they were your deciples.
7:47 A wonderful exception to this rule is Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" melody from his Symphony No. 9-one of the most well known melodies in the world, it's made up entirely of steps
Good point. The rhythm of the notes may be as important as the notes themselves. Some pianist said something like: "Other pianists can play the notes as well as I can. But I can play the spaces between the notes better than anyone."
Wow! I spent so much time in music classes as a kid, and none of it gelled in my head. Now I’m 50, and this short and simple video has opened up a whole new world to explore. Whether I write my own stuff or just find a new appreciation for other peoples - this is just wonderful. Thank you so very much!
Thanks for taking the time to do this lesson. I'm a guitarist who has just started venturing into the world of writing melodies (or putting proper melodies to paper) and this has been a great start. It has also helped me with my guitar theory, as your description of the intervallic relationships suddenly turned on a light bulb regarding deciding what key you are using/ writing in.
Where is the lady teaching? I want to send my Grandchildren to sit at her feet. This is one of the best, maybe the very best, lecture I've ever heard. She knows where she's going, she knows how to get there, and she knows the stops along the way. Bravo!
I wake up with a melody in my head,but then it the real work to determine the key, the chords and the bass line; and the accompaniment. 5 per cent inspiration, 95 per cent perspiration! I hate composing with chords, though it you get such a head start if you do!
To determine the key sing the first note and pluck the E or the B string and slide your finger up the fretboard until you reach the note (example Bb) and that is your key .. and most likely the first chord . If Bb is the root (or tone) that is the 1 chord so first try to use a 1-4-5 (example (C-F-G7) chord sequence. If it is more of a doo-wop use a 1-6-2-5 chord sequence (example C-Am-Dm7-G7) Here is how chords GO TO chords The 1 can go to any note in the scale. It is root. It is the tone note or “tonic.” the 2 goes to the 5 the 3 goes to the 6 the 4 goes to the 1 or 5 the 5 goes to the 1 the 6 goes to the 2 Like this 1 → 3 → 6 → 2 → 5 → 1 C - E7 - Am - Dm - G7 - C 1 → 4 → 5 → 1 → 4 → 5 C - F - G7 → G - C - D7 1 → 6 → 2 → 5 (Doo Wop) C Am Dm7 G7 If 1 chord goes to the 3 chord 1 → 3 (C to E7) and 3 goes to 6 (A7) and 6 goes to 2 (D7) and 2 goes to 5 (G7) then you have the “Five Foot Two” called the “Circle Progression) C - E7 - A7 - D7 - G7 - C is 1 - 3 - 6 - 2 - 5 - 1 If 1 chord goes to 4 chord it is 1 - 4 - 5 progression. If 1 goes to 5 chord ithen it goe to the 1 (right?) Yes If 1 goes to 6 chord (A7 or Am) then 6 goes to 2 and 2 goes to 5 and you have the classic 1-6-2-5 or 6-2-5-1 used in many nice jazz tunes andalso Doo Wop Eb-Cm-Fm7-Bb7 C-Am-Dm-G7 If 1 goes to 2 chord which is D then 2 goes to the 5 and 5 goes to 1. This is called 2 - 5 - 1 example is Dm7 → G7 → C But because Dm7 if the relative minor of F and so it is kind of like a 1 - 4 - 5 which is our basic TRIAD, So you know how ROOT can go to any chord and there is a logcial sequence back to root. We have looked at one, two, three, four, five, six and seen how they progress back to one. Karen Ramirez explains it well (but her circle of 5ths is backwards .. she does it that way) (kind of screechie but good content)
Thanks for that. it should be possible to do things by ear and theory; after all, Sib 7 lets you sing your melody into notation, literally, From a philosophical view, I like that feature.
Wanted to Thank you for all, and everything you put in to this lesson. I would take classes from you anytime. So well done and broken down in small chunks. I played it twice. Marked it as a favorite. Hope to see more of what you have to offer. Thank you...
I'm a piano Nooby and just started learning music theory several months ago. This is the first time I even thought about melody, and was fascinated. Very well explained. And I pictured that wild and crazy class writing that melody.
Ok I figured out who this teacher is: Jamie Henke at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. iTunes U only has this one video of practical music theory, though. The rest of the podcasts are audio-only and from a non-music majors' introductory class. Gonna keep looking though. I played guitar by ear for a good thirty-five years before I started studying music theory beyond the abbreviated piano lessons I took when I was little and hated hated hated even though I never stopped loving music itself. This is one of the clearest explanations of melody writing I have yet found, and I want to take the all-video class that Henke must have made if there is any justice in this world. Yes, one can write music by ear without a lot of music training--I did it for a long time--but it is really difficult to do efficiently even with a very good ear and obsessive listening habits. So I'm coming to this a bit late, but learning the rules that I was breaking left and right in the old days is in fact challenging and is making me a much better musician. This video is a gem.
I loved this! A great explanation of how to go about constructing a melody, introducing some really important concepts and building on them. I showed it to my wife and she loved it too.
Beautifully explained, it is a pleasure to listen to an educated professional teacher which is self evident in the presentation. Unlike so many who seem to think they have mastered a subject and only perpetuate misinformation.
This was such an awesome video. It taught me so much and I cannot for the life of me understand how effortless it was to learn from you. You are awesome!
Fantastic video! A great presentation, and very well done. I applaud and highly commend your manner and method of teaching; they are together patient and comforting. Thank you so much!
Thank you SO much for taking the time and effort involved in posting this. You have helped me immensely. I wish I could give you a hug. I really understand basic music theory now. A new toolbox in which to work from.
Great tutorial and framework for creating melodies. My former guitar teacher, who was an internationally known composer, once told me "a great song is defined by it's melody, and a great melody is defined if it can stand alone without its accompanying instruments."
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! This is exactly what I've been looking for in regard to learning melody. I love meticulous detail when it comes to studying music!!!
Trust me I got music theorie for some years from real teachers and I did not understand jack sh****. Themselves 33 minutes made it crystal clear to me now.
@@Asmr_kungfu I agree, most people just aren't that great at teaching. I often have the impression that some teachers like to make the student feel confused/dumb. This way of teaching is really great. It doesn't use unnecessary jargon, and is spoken in a really clear and understandable way. It's rare to find such content on the web.
Really well done, clear and to the point. It's unbeliavable just how much music there is out there that follows these rules, regardless of the genere. A great starting point for shure.
Wow... Hard to put it in words but you really got a lot of the missing pieces from my big composition puzzle. Thanks for bringing them to me! Such good content!
That's weird, I already knew all this even if I haven't taken any theory classes or anything else. The thing is, by listening music you will find out these things. But only if you LISTEN to the music. There's a difference between listening and LISTENING ;) When you analyze (try to break apart) really good melodies you like, you'll notice that a good melody is broken into many parts and a _really_ good melody has these parts relatively far apart. If they're packed too tightly, you don't have the time as a listener to appreciate or "have a good taste" of what has just been represented to you when it goes to a new thing already. This is why many find listening "virtuoso music" hard. They have so much happening in such a short period of time that it get's fatiguing for many pretty fast. If you're well versed in music (you make music or you play music) you train the regions of your brain that are able to process and listen the music better and thus you get to appreciate those virtuoso dream theater guitar parts or amazing 200bpm 16th note passages from some crazy keyboard players, but as a n "average joe" you generally don't have that affinity to do that.
Thank you for posting this. I can read music and play piano, but always found the lessons in school concerning “best practise” for chords and melodies just were not well explained - I barely scraped through my grade 5 music theory. And the practical lessons focused too much on playing what someone else had written rather than coming up with your own ideas. This is wonderfully explained and simple to grasp.
You can teach people things that will help them. But a lot is intuitive. I watched a piano teacher teach a young girl the pentatonic scale, and then he asked her to improvise melodies using the scale he just taught, and she intuitively created some very catchy sounding melodies from that scale. I hate to say it, but there really is such a thing as "talent", but, that being said, the young girl got there quicker with the lesson, though eventually she would probably have figured it out on her own. The theory enabled her to "understand" why things work. Theory can't endow talent, it just gives a road for the vehicle of talent to travel on, and get their quicker.
For a person who is learning music by himself, all of this free education makes my heart melt with gratitude, thanks a bunch.
Soda
Sodaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
@@thatonefrankie what?
I second that! (your original statement)
if you take it serious use libgen and pirate all books, you wont get anywhere at this pace
I just learned more about music in these 33 min than I have in the previous 56 years !
Me too! 🤣
So did i !
Indeed
I totally agree with you and feel the same.
The "Too many leaps" example is Jazz.
So many people in this comment section seem to be regarding this as a formula that removes all creative process from writing a melody... maybe because they weren't paying attention, lack critical thinking, or just knee-jerk commented and left the video.
She didn't outline ANY hard rules at all. Not once did she say "you MUST follow this or your melody will suck". And even so, the process she gave basically boils down to this:
First you figure out where you want your melody to go. Then you figure out how to take your melody there.
Which isn't even remotely a formula, it's just a way of writing melodies that, face it, makes perfect sense.
+Masaaki Hosoi Agreed, also she's teaching the basics of melody writing, its impossible to get someone who didnt write anything for his whole life (like me) and say "go crazy, no rules!", it will end up sounding like shit (as all my attempts did untill now), the same way you cant teach someone how to draw without teaching light and shadow techniques first, after the person masters the technique then it can go, "oh you know, i think i will make my shadows reversed" and it will actually look good because he knows what a shadow is and how it works.... You cant escape from the standard rules if you dont know them.
+Masaaki Hosoi so u have just shortened 33 min video to a simple 3 sentences. you should get paid for that.
+Masaaki Hosoi She explains at the begening with a quote !!!! :
"to study music, you must learn the rules
to create music, you must forget the rules"
IM WITH U
You must understand the rules before you can break them
I am retired now, but I have just started to read music and play the piano.
I found your video informative. I never understood Scale Degrees ;however, this has given me a much better understanding. Thank you very much.
Terry Wright.
I write my own melodies on my guitar and on my piano and I don't know anything about reading/writing music or these formulas. I only go by what sounds/feels good. This video has shown me what I was doing. I never thought about these concepts of tension and release before. Now I can understand better what it is that I was doing without even knowing it. I think its important to know the theories behind things because I have been stumbling across melodies for years. Now I think I might be able to compose something quicker especially when I get stuck In repetition and don't know where to go from there. I constantly find myself stuck with unfinished melodies. I believe this will help. Thanks for posting the video.
Agreed! I mainly go for what sounds/feels good. But I also like to know what I am doing, theory wise, so I can go for some types of sounds/melodies quicker than just randomly noodling/going for trial and error.
Music theory must be seen as descriptive and not prescriptive :)
People say that: they do not read music (simply play what feels good). But that does actually work unless your playing is entirely alone. If you want to COUNT (so as to be in time with other players .. on the same note) you have to have measures (bars) and you must count 1-2-3-4 and know which measure are the others playing. Even drums and bass (rhythm) have to count. .. and to count you have to be cognizant of measures.
Well, music is very similar to language. It is like native speakers may not know their grammar but still use their language according to its rules. So they kind of "know" the grammar without conciously knowing it. Once they want to work with their language professionally (writer, lector, editor, teacher) a concious awareness of the grammar would be very helpful, though.
Erick Fenstermaker
If you were happy writing whatever sounds felt good and you were happy with your results, by all means go back to that and forget about this video!
you clearly did not read what I wrote. If you did you would not have posted this nonsense.
As a conductor, performer, writer of music, music educator, and theorist, I found this video to be an excellent guide for folks building melodies, even as a model that can refresh the professional. Sometimes it's excellent to review things like this to learn about different approaches to the creative process. I found the class melody to be quite interesting as well as innovative as far as their use of leaps in the consequent phrase followed with appropriate stepwise motion in the opposite direction. An overall excellent video tutorial.
I agree 100%, what a Excellent Video to stumble up on, l went and brought another a Hal Leonard Wide staff Manuscript to take down all Examples and note taking, This is such a big help Explaining formats to follow for when l write over Progression`s And also how 8 bars are periods and 4 bars are Phrase`s i have even a better understanding of a AABA format and even how now to compose one.
I've had to wait over seventy years to know this?
Should be part of any school curriculum!!!
(Thank you!)
Jamie? You are a gifted teacher, speaker and drawer. We at UA-cam are blessed as your students are. Not one stumble, ummm, him or haa
Look at all these clueless people in the comment section, thinking that music should be written "from the heart" without "following rules". How much music have you written, played, or studied?
Music theory is a FRAMEWORK; once you have internalized it, you can intuitively pick the melodies and progressions that best suit the story you're trying to convey-establishing tonality first for your emotional base, substituting a minor chord for a major or vice versa, shifting to an out-of-key chromatic chord to emphasize a certain emotion, adding tensions to... well, add tension and color, understanding the guide tones of your harmonic progression and how to employ them to create tension and release, understanding which notes in a scale lead to which, and a metric shitton more that I could just keep on going on and on about. You can even intentionally disregard it, at times.
There are certain things that you don't do in music because they just sound like shit to the human ear and have been established as such, and once you understand what these are, you keep going. But you NEED theory. Pretty much EVERY famous classical composer understood theory and manipulated it to their own tastes.
_I could just keep on going on and on about._ Please go on, this is the most informative comment for someone like me, who's trying to digest and learn it all, that I've read so far. If you have any references, be so kind and reference me to them. Contrary to what 21st century may seem like, even at this age it's hard to get hold of valuable information.
I totally agree. Music is a language, as is English. Poetry or a story can be written from the heart, but in order to write, you need to understand the rules of English.
*****
Music, just like anything in life, is made up of certain elements. If you know the music theory, you have conscious control over all the elements of music and can easily manipulate them to create desired effects.
It's just so much superior to know all the details, than not.
***** Well, that's almost true.
Ok, you don't need music theory per se, but trying to make music without it is-I"ll extend your analogy-more like trying to pound a nail into wood using completely random objects around the house instead of just using a hammer. Maybe it works better; most of the time, it doesn't.
The thing is, theory didn't exist before music did-it was developed over time by musicians who came up with rules that reminded musicians that doing "this" makes the listener feel "that", etc., which made composers' lives much easier and enabled them to develop more complex ideas. And there are certain "standard calibrations" that human ears across the world follow: Octaves, fifths, scales of different pitches, and tonics, which are the foundation of pretty much every musical system in the world.
Of course, as musicians we have to avoid falling into the traps of predictability and strict formulaic composition as well, but mostly because the listener would get bored. And the final judge of any music one creates or mixes, too, really should be the ear-if it sounds great to your ear, it works; if it doesn't, maybe not so much.
Withme Whostoned
Sorry for the wait.
Most of this theory information I got by going on an archive binge across the Internet, skimming stuff off the top of various articles, but I have a lot of bookmarks too, and I'll just list a few of them here because I'm extremely lazy and I don't want to explain everything right now.
www.thejazzresource.com/
Jazz theory is great. It was made for pushing the envelope, but thanks to its mostly sensory rather than theoretical tradition it doesn't branch so far off into the abstract and avant-garde so that it's entirely inaccessible, with the exception of free jazz. Basically, that means to me a greater realm of expression in music.
www2.siba.fi/muste1/index.php?id=63&la=en
A bit of explanation of how notes tend to work in scales, melodically.
utminers.utep.edu/charlesl/chords.html
A very big chart of harmonic possibilities.
www.filmmusicnotes.com/
You'll be surprised how much you can learn from John Williams.
www.howmusicreallyworks.com/
I haven't actually bought the book, but reading these first 6 chapters offered free did give me some valuable information.
music.tutsplus.com/
Though this website is mostly for digital music producers, there are a few theory tutorials that I've found handy. The mixing tutorials here are also quite good for home producing.
Remember:
Don't trust everything, especially since I'm not exactly the greatest musician myself; just take and apply the parts that sound good (in practice, not on paper) to your music.
Music is not the only thing I start with a tonic 😉🍸
Show yourself out plz.
G & tonic.
+rawstarmusic nice
VictoriaSobocki. hi
I'll second that :-)
My parents had to squeeze out extra money for me to take piano lessons back in the 60's. I started when I was 10 years old. By the time I got to lessons like this, I was paying TUITION in a 4 year University of which cost us Thousands of dollars. I can't believe my eyes when I see complained posted in some tutorials. Then I understand that anyone who has any complains are not here to learn music from the "C" scale on up. They want to be Jerry Lee Lewis in 2 weeks. lol However, with ALL the music I have been trained for, I still come back to lessons like this. I am a 65 year old Female Musician of over 50 years and here I am still learning and refreshing my knowledge. Thank You Very Much.
Look at humans. They spread knowledge around voluntarily. Teachers want to teach.
Thought about this kind of people minutes into watching this video. What kindness! ~
rawstarmusic
K
Said never by the sophists
You're a human, too. Just saying. Do something good with that.
The "Too many leaps" example is Jazz.
The "bad" example of too many leaps actually sounds quite good in a creepy, horror context.
Awesome video however, thank you for the shared knowledge.
So true!
Very cool once you consider it.
There`s lot’s of hidden logic that binds that phrase. (Pattern, direction, rythm, repetition of pattern, common tones, etc)
You need to learn the rules, before you can break them! Knowing both what the rules are and why they exist is an excellent starting point for some creative writing.
i’ve just found this video and it’s literally everything i’ve been looking for, literally!!!, thank you for creating this video
Same here, I agree!
i third that! sample and yet so relevant!!
What a wonderful teacher. I learned so much from this. Her explanations are so clear and helpful.
I agree
It's good.
The only way people will understand a video like this is to make it ALL SIMPLE as possible! But to give good details! And not all beginners know what Major and minor chords are nor do they know how to count to music!
moral of the story? Mozart does what the fuck he wants.
debussy is a better example, but even he had rules he followed. john cage on the other hand...
Rule #1 in songwriting
THERE ARE NO RULES
Thank you Ma'am, I have been searching to get an accurate explanation, here I got it. May God bless you to make videos atleast upto 8th grade. So that many leaners can be your deciples and one fine day some of them will reveal to the world that they were your deciples.
7:47 A wonderful exception to this rule is Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" melody from his Symphony No. 9-one of the most well known melodies in the world, it's made up entirely of steps
Good point. The rhythm of the notes may be as important as the notes themselves. Some pianist said something like: "Other pianists can play the notes as well as I can. But I can play the spaces between the notes better than anyone."
Wow! I spent so much time in music classes as a kid, and none of it gelled in my head. Now I’m 50, and this short and simple video has opened up a whole new world to explore. Whether I write my own stuff or just find a new appreciation for other peoples - this is just wonderful. Thank you so very much!
Thanks for taking the time to do this lesson. I'm a guitarist who has just started venturing into the world of writing melodies (or putting proper melodies to paper) and this has been a great start.
It has also helped me with my guitar theory, as your description of the intervallic relationships suddenly turned on a light bulb regarding deciding what key you are using/ writing in.
Excellent teaching, so clear and helpful. Thank you for this!
Don't even know what a musical instrument is, but just wrote myself a nice little melody.10/10 I rate
Where is the lady teaching? I want to send my Grandchildren to sit at her feet. This is one of the best, maybe the very best, lecture I've ever heard. She knows where she's going, she knows how to get there, and she knows the stops along the way. Bravo!
I wake up with a melody in my head,but then it the real work to determine the key, the chords and the bass line; and the accompaniment. 5 per cent inspiration, 95 per cent perspiration! I hate composing with chords, though it you get such a head start if you do!
To determine the key sing the first note and pluck the E or the B string and slide your finger up the fretboard until you reach the note (example Bb) and that is your key .. and most likely the first chord . If Bb is the root (or tone) that is the 1 chord so first try to use a 1-4-5 (example (C-F-G7) chord sequence. If it is more of a doo-wop use a 1-6-2-5 chord sequence (example C-Am-Dm7-G7) Here is how chords GO TO chords
The 1 can go to any note in the scale. It is root. It is the tone note or “tonic.”
the 2 goes to the 5
the 3 goes to the 6
the 4 goes to the 1 or 5
the 5 goes to the 1
the 6 goes to the 2
Like this
1 → 3 → 6 → 2 → 5 → 1
C - E7 - Am - Dm - G7 - C
1 → 4 → 5 → 1 → 4 → 5
C - F - G7 → G - C - D7
1 → 6 → 2 → 5 (Doo Wop)
C Am Dm7 G7
If 1 chord goes to the 3 chord 1 → 3 (C to E7) and 3 goes to 6 (A7) and 6 goes to 2 (D7) and 2 goes to 5 (G7) then you have the “Five Foot Two” called the “Circle Progression) C - E7 - A7 - D7 - G7 - C is 1 - 3 - 6 - 2 - 5 - 1
If 1 chord goes to 4 chord it is 1 - 4 - 5 progression.
If 1 goes to 5 chord ithen it goe to the 1 (right?) Yes
If 1 goes to 6 chord (A7 or Am) then 6 goes to 2 and 2 goes to 5 and you have the classic 1-6-2-5 or 6-2-5-1 used in many nice jazz tunes andalso Doo Wop
Eb-Cm-Fm7-Bb7
C-Am-Dm-G7
If 1 goes to 2 chord which is D then 2 goes to the 5 and 5 goes to 1. This is called 2 - 5 - 1 example is Dm7 → G7 → C But because Dm7 if the relative minor of F and so it is kind of like a 1 - 4 - 5 which is our basic TRIAD,
So you know how ROOT can go to any chord and there is a logcial sequence back to root. We have looked at one, two, three, four, five, six and seen how they progress back to one. Karen Ramirez explains it well (but her circle of 5ths is backwards .. she does it that way) (kind of screechie but good content)
Thanks for that. it should be possible to do things by ear and theory; after all, Sib 7 lets you sing your melody into notation, literally, From a philosophical view, I like that feature.
DRA Hodson You can play your melody in every key, randomly pick one and figure it out. Worry about picking the key you like later.
@@Gitfidlpickr there's an app for that
Wanted to Thank you for all, and everything you put in to this lesson. I would take classes from you anytime. So well done and broken down in small chunks. I played it twice. Marked it as a favorite. Hope to see more of what you have to offer. Thank you...
I'm a piano Nooby and just started learning music theory several months ago. This is the first time I even thought about melody, and was fascinated. Very well explained. And I pictured that wild and crazy class writing that melody.
What I don’t understand is how so many people could possibly dislike this. This is half an hour of free education. That is not always easy to find.
Ok I figured out who this teacher is: Jamie Henke at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. iTunes U only has this one video of practical music theory, though. The rest of the podcasts are audio-only and from a non-music majors' introductory class.
Gonna keep looking though. I played guitar by ear for a good thirty-five years before I started studying music theory beyond the abbreviated piano lessons I took when I was little and hated hated hated even though I never stopped loving music itself. This is one of the clearest explanations of melody writing I have yet found, and I want to take the all-video class that Henke must have made if there is any justice in this world.
Yes, one can write music by ear without a lot of music training--I did it for a long time--but it is really difficult to do efficiently even with a very good ear and obsessive listening habits. So I'm coming to this a bit late, but learning the rules that I was breaking left and right in the old days is in fact challenging and is making me a much better musician. This video is a gem.
Music theory is not a set of rules, it's a guide.
Hey, did you find anything?
Thanks for the heads-up, my friend. I might have run into the same problem.
@@liammay7756 Unless you are doing counterpoint because then it is a set a rules.
A lesson that makes perfect sense, thank you for adding some sanity to the subject...
Agreed, I understood a good bit of the 4-bar phrase, repeated, but to have it broken down like this was so enlightening - and motivating. Thankyou!!
Thank you so so much for sharing this - absolutely the best music lesson I've had in 40 years!
This video did a great job to show us a very practical and easy model on how to write a melody!
Wow! Thank you so much for this lesson. The way you have explained it makes it so clear. I’m off to write my melodies!
“That’s a lot of blank real estate”
God bless you 😂
One of the most helpful lessons I've seen. Great explanation of what's involved in writing a tune.
This is by far, the best music theory lesson I've seen on UA-cam. Thank you!
Great lesson . your lecture on how to structure the period or phrase in advance is exactly what I needed to come up with good melodic ideas
I loved this! A great explanation of how to go about constructing a melody, introducing some really important concepts and building on them. I showed it to my wife and she loved it too.
Out of the many things I have studied and read, this is the simplest, most straightforward way to write a melody. Thank you!
Thanks for this excellent tutorial. I learned things about music theory, I never understood before. This completely works for my learning style.
Beautifully explained, it is a pleasure to listen to an educated professional teacher which is self evident in the presentation. Unlike so many who seem to think they have mastered a subject and only perpetuate misinformation.
Thank you so much. I understand the structure much better. The decorative notes you pianoed earlier sounded so pretty.
Jamie, your clarity was more helpful than you may know. So grateful! Thank you!
A VALUABLE & NEEDED Tutorial...that can assist do many..for FREE.
Well Done and thanks fir your TIME and Generosity.
Nice lesson! Pretty useful information and you explain it very well.
This was great! So well presented, in such a way that I could understand! Thank you!
Perfect lesson: Perfect delivery. Thank you.
This was such an awesome video. It taught me so much and I cannot for the life of me understand how effortless it was to learn from you. You are awesome!
A really informative video! Thanks for sharing
Fantastic video! A great presentation, and very well done. I applaud and highly commend your manner and method of teaching; they are together patient and comforting. Thank you so much!
Thank you SO much for taking the time and effort involved in posting this. You have helped me immensely. I wish I could give you a hug. I really understand basic music theory now. A new toolbox in which to work from.
Thanks for the lesson! Exactly the kind of in formation I was looking for.
Exactly what I was looking for also.Great job!
Excellent quality teaching! Thank you very much, you are amazing and set me in the right direction, I am much more confident now.
Excellent melody writing intro! Thank you very much!
wonderful i love this
Thank you for the video. It was simple and easy to follow!
Wonderful! Thank you for this interesting and informative tutorial!
Super amazing! Thank you so much for sharing this! I know this video is old but it's timeless!
The dotted notes look fine on my screen, and I found the lesson very useful.
Excellent explanation and demonstration. Is there and accompanying harmony lesson for fitting chords to the melody?
Thank you,keeps one young at 76yrs and still enjoying the journey thanks to your excellent lecture so clear.ta again
Thank you for such great explanation of writing a melody.
For the "too many leaps" part around 9 minutes in, that melody actually would work if you were going for a more ominous and mysterious sound.
Yea I actually felt like I'd be something Id write
Great lesson, do you have anymore?
Great tutorial and framework for creating melodies. My former guitar teacher, who was an internationally known composer, once told me "a great song is defined by it's melody, and a great melody is defined if it can stand alone without its accompanying instruments."
Excellent!!! Thank you so much for this. I've learnt a great deal.
I started to write songs when I was like 7 or 8 and I still write songs as a young composer, but this helped me a lot.
You can check out my song on my channel. I don't know how good I actually am.
The G Tonic is my favorite release of tension after a long day at the office
My whiskey sings hymns going down my throat
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!
This is exactly what I've been looking for in regard to learning melody.
I love meticulous detail when it comes to studying music!!!
WOW ! Amazing. I've never heard this before. Thank You.
When you try to learn music theory from UA-cam cus U have no money for a teacher. 😉
Try?
4real tho
Did this work?
Trust me I got music theorie for some years from real teachers and I did not understand jack sh****. Themselves 33 minutes made it crystal clear to me now.
@@Asmr_kungfu I agree, most people just aren't that great at teaching. I often have the impression that some teachers like to make the student feel confused/dumb.
This way of teaching is really great. It doesn't use unnecessary jargon, and is spoken in a really clear and understandable way. It's rare to find such content on the web.
My deardest lady, don't let these bastards commenting here get you down. I have learned so much from you. xxxx
Really well done, clear and to the point. It's unbeliavable just how much music there is out there that follows these rules, regardless of the genere. A great starting point for shure.
Young lady, I just wanted to thank you for a very useful lesson. Nice job. I'll watch it again.
very useful ....thanks
Wow... Hard to put it in words but you really got a lot of the missing pieces from my big composition puzzle. Thanks for bringing them to me! Such good content!
Outstanding! I’m learning how to read music and this video helped so much to get me started! Thank you!
Absolutely brilliant lesson!
That's weird, I already knew all this even if I haven't taken any theory classes or anything else.
The thing is, by listening music you will find out these things. But only if you LISTEN to the music. There's a difference between listening and LISTENING ;)
When you analyze (try to break apart) really good melodies you like, you'll notice that a good melody is broken into many parts and a _really_ good melody has these parts relatively far apart. If they're packed too tightly, you don't have the time as a listener to appreciate or "have a good taste" of what has just been represented to you when it goes to a new thing already.
This is why many find listening "virtuoso music" hard. They have so much happening in such a short period of time that it get's fatiguing for many pretty fast.
If you're well versed in music (you make music or you play music) you train the regions of your brain that are able to process and listen the music better and thus you get to appreciate those virtuoso dream theater guitar parts or amazing 200bpm 16th note passages from some crazy keyboard players, but as a n "average joe" you generally don't have that affinity to do that.
I agree there is also a difference in listening and LISTENING and L I S T E N I N G. :)
Willie B Lol you guys... I agree tho
There's a different between hearing and listening. I know I'm 1 year late, but I'm bored.
good point, i read an entire book on that subject
Ur so dumb...
Are we going to ignore how good the audio quality is for 2011
Very easy to follow and super informative. Thank you so much for these lessons.
This has to be one of the well most descriptive and every word is gold , I cant thank you enough :)
Classic! I wanna double like. :)
Does she have any online courses? I would love to pay and learn more.
Thank you for posting this.
I can read music and play piano, but always found the lessons in school concerning “best practise” for chords and melodies just were not well explained - I barely scraped through my grade 5 music theory. And the practical lessons focused too much on playing what someone else had written rather than coming up with your own ideas. This is wonderfully explained and simple to grasp.
Beautifully made! Thanks
in a rush? 15:50 the magic starts
you voice sounds like Dory. :)
ddeeej haha I was just thinking of that too. More like Ellen (even tho they're the same voice)
Jesse Chao Even though Ellen voices Dory.. Dory just sounds different than Ellen, you know what I'm saying?
thats exactly what I thought!!! its calming also
Very helpful never composed melody before, encouraged to do so now.
you don't know how much you have enlightened us
million thanks to you
You can teach people things that will help them. But a lot is intuitive. I watched a piano teacher teach a young girl the pentatonic scale, and then he asked her to improvise melodies using the scale he just taught, and she intuitively created some very catchy sounding melodies from that scale. I hate to say it, but there really is such a thing as "talent", but, that being said, the young girl got there quicker with the lesson, though eventually she would probably have figured it out on her own. The theory enabled her to "understand" why things work. Theory can't endow talent, it just gives a road for the vehicle of talent to travel on, and get their quicker.
Pentatonic is really easy to write in
“How do you write a melody?” is a question, requiring a question mark. “How to write a melody” is an answer, and does not.
One can still ask "how to write a melody?" In the context of confirming you understood someone correctly🤣
The best tutorial 🔥🔥🔥...... Crystal clear explanations
Finally i found all about music.I would love to see more tutorials like this speciall chord progreessions on the Phrases.Thanks a lot
Very Good info. Thanks for sharing it with us; Jesus Christ Bless you! :)
1:25 "now that looks like a bunch of blank real estate..."
*It's free real estate*
😂👌
invest in real estate
This lesson is well explained and informative. Thank you so much for providing an excellent lesson.
Excellent lesson to introduce melody writing to us newbies. Thank you very much for taking the time to clearly explain and create the lesson video!!