Writing an instrumental melody

Hello, and welcome to the fourth lesson of our unit, Sound of '90s Grunge. My name is Mr. Norris, and this lesson is entitled Writing an Instrumental Melody. We're gonna be focused on melody today, and we're gonna be building on some of the compositional skills that we've already developed while still developing an understanding of how grunge works as well. So I hope you enjoy it. Let's get into it. So our outcome for today's lesson is that I can create an instrumental melody for my chorus through improvisation. So as that says there, we're gonna be focusing on writing melody today. It's such an important skill as a composer, and the way we're gonna get there is through improvising, which is such a key skill as well. So we'll be building on those foundational fundamental composition skills today. Our key words, our first is phrase, and a phrase is a short section of a melody, normally lasting for two or four bars. Phrase structure, and this is the pattern of phrases in a melody. It should have a balance of repetition and contrast. And then finally, the A minor scale. So the A minor scale is a set of notes starting on A that uses only the white notes on the keyboard. So we're gonna be developing an understanding of those concepts as we're looking at our composition skills today. So the first part of our lesson is called melodic phrase structure. Let's get into it. We can think of a melody like a complex sentence, broken up into smaller sections or phrases using commas. So just as in a sentence, you'll have different clauses, different parts of the sentence. A melody is the same, it has different parts that combine to create the whole melody. And these sections we call phrases. We're gonna look now at a very famous melody written by Beethoven more than 200 years ago, which is called "Ode to Joy." Now, when we're listening to this, I'd like to follow the notation on the screen and see if you can pick out any patterns between the different phrases. If we look at the notation there, we can see the commas at the right hand side show us where the separate phrases start and finish. So listen to it and see if you can pick out any patterns or relationships between the different phrases. I'll play it for you now. ("Ode to Joy") ("Ode to Joy" continues) So hang onto those thoughts about the patterns you've seen, 'cause we're gonna come onto those now. A good melody should balance repetition and contrast. And you might have picked up there that one of the patterns within that melody is that some sections of it repeat. In this melody there are two phrases that are the same, which we'll call phrase B, and two that are different that we'll call phrase A and phrase C. Here's our notation here. And we can see there that the first phrase, which we'll always call phrase A, is very similar to the second phrase, phrase B, but it does change at the end in the last bar. Then we've got a different phrase, again, phrase C. But then our final phrase is the same as the second one. So if you compare second and fourth line of notation there, you'll notice that they're identical. So we have some repetition of that B phrase, but we have some contrast as well, because we have the A and the C phrases. And in particular, the C phrase is very different from all the others. Let's listen to those phrases one by one. So here's our A phrase. ("Ode to Joy") Now we've got our B phrase. Now this is very similar to the A phrase, but it is not the same. ("Ode to Joy") Now, the C phrase is very different. Let's hear that. ("Ode to Joy") And then we finish with the B phrase, which is the same as the second line. ("Ode to Joy") The phrase structure of "Ode to Joy" is ABCB. That's the order of the phrases. But the important thing to remember here is that there is some repetition that helps to make the melody memorable. So every phrase isn't different, and some of the phrases are very closely linked. A and B are quite similar. So there's some repetition, but we've got the contrast too. Now we're gonna listen to a different melody, and this one is from a much more recent piece of music, but it follows the same principles. In a second, you're gonna pause my video. I'd like to listen to the clip and work out which of the four phrases repeat. So here we're not focusing on the words, we're focusing on the melody, but those four words, friend, again, began and again are there to help you identify the different phrases. Okay, so listen to the melody and work out which one or which ones repeat. You can pause my video now. The phrase structure then for that clip is ABAC. And that's because the first phrase, our A phrase, repeats as the third phrase. So we hear that same melodic idea twice. Phrases one and three repeat. And although the words for phrases two and four are the same, the melody is different. So when we're thinking about phrase structure, as I said before, try and focus on the melody rather than the lyrics 'cause that can be a bit misleading sometimes. You can now listen to those four phrases separately and try and notice how the first phrase and the third phrase share the same melody and the second phrase and the fourth phrase have a different melody. You can pause my video and do that now. Let's look at another example. This one is the song "Hello" by Adele. Listen to the clip and try and work out what the phrase structure is. Remember that the first phrase, we always call it A. Then try and work out where A repeats and see if you can work out the order of the four phrases. The words here that will help you, are that the first phrase finishes with side, the second phrase times, third phrase done, and the fourth phrase home. So pause my video and see if you can work out this phrase structure. Let's dig into that one then. So the phrase structure is AABB, and that's because the first phrase is repeated, so we hear it the same as phrase one and phrase two. And then the same happens in phrase three and four. So there are only two different phrases here, and they're both repeated. So we'd say it has the phrase structure AABB. Listen to each of those clips individually now, and notice how the first and second phrases have the same melody, although different words. And the third and fourth phrases have the same melody, although also different words. You can pause my video and do that now. When we're naming a phrase structure, always call the first phrase A. If any other phrases are the same, we call them A. And if any other phrases are different, we call them B, C, D, and so on. So in theory, we could have all sorts of different letters in our phrase structure, but normally a phrase structure will only have a few different phrases in it, because otherwise it would be too complex and there will be enough repetition, there'll be too much contrast. These are some very common phrase structures. So we've already just heard there an example of an AABB structure in "Hello." We've got ABAC, that was the structure in "See You Again." Another common one is AABA. And ABAB is also a common phrase structure. So when we're writing a melody, using one of these can help us to balance repetition and contrast. Note that the A section almost always repeats, and this helps make the melody catchy and memorable. I'd like to listen to these two melodies again, and I'd like to see if you can think of any other ways that we can identify the phrases other than listening to the words. In particular, think about the length and what happens at the end of each phrase. So ignore the words and see if you can think about how we can identify the ends of phrases. Pause my video and have a go at that. The key point here then is that there's a regular two-bar pattern. So the phrases are the same length, they're all two bars on. And there's usually a long note or a break in the melody between the phrases. So these things can help us identify the ends and the beginnings of new phrases, just in the way that a comma, for example, helps us identify different clauses, different sections of a sentence. So well done if you picked up on either of those two, the regular phrase length, they all use the same length, or the use of the long notes or breaks at the end of phrases. Let's check your understanding of phrase structure then. Which of these phrase structures would have a good balance of repetition and contrast? Is it AAAA, ABCD, or ABAC? I'll give you a few seconds to work it out. So the best example here, the best option would be ABAC. That's because it has some repetition, so it has two versions of the A phrase, but it also has some contrast with the B and C phrases. The first option, AAAA, just repeats the same ideas, so there's no contrast. And the second option, ABCD, has different phrases every time, so there's no repetition. So the third one there is our best option. Really well done if you chose that one. How can we identify phrases in a melody when listening to them? Select two answers. A, there's often a long note or a break at the end. B, they have a regular two-bar or four-bar pattern. And C, they finish with the same word. So choose two of those answers as to how we can identify phrases in a melody. Our two correct answers then would be, there's often a long note or a break at the end of a phrase, and they have a regular two-bar or four-bar pattern. So they'll usually be two bars or four bars long. Really well done if you chose those two answers there. So for task A, we're gonna listen to the following melodies, and I'd like to know what is the phrase structure for each one. So there are three options for each question, and there's also a hint with the first question to give you some words at the end phrases. So you can pause my video, listen to those two clips, and try and work out the phrase structure of each. Let's review the answers to that question then. So the first song had the phrase structure ABAB, and the second one had the phrase structure ABAC. So the only difference in the structure was that the second example had a different contrasting phrase at the end, and that's our C phrase. Really well done if you've got either of those correct, is a tricky skill getting used to identifying melodic phrase structure until we've had a lot of practise of it, so really well done if you've got those. The second part of our lesson is now gonna look at creating an instrumental melody. We're gonna watch a video now, which looks at improvising melodic phrases. I'm gonna play it for you. Now it's time to have a go at creating an instrumental melody for our grunge composition. As we know, one of the key features of grunge is its lyrics, which are often on very dark and depressing themes. In this project, we're not really gonna be able to recreate that, so we will be missing that key feature from our compositions, but we can still create a melody that fits within the style and works really well with all the other key features of grunge that we already have. To create our melody we're gonna be improvising, and we're gonna be using the A minor scale, which is the most simple of all the minor scales. It's all the white notes starting on A. (guitar notes) And as A is the tonic, that's the most important note, we're gonna be using quite a lot of A's or we might be basing our melody around the note A as well as using some of the other notes. The first thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna just try improvising some different two-bar phrases, and when I find one that I like, I'm gonna record it in. So I'm gonna create lots of different phrases based on the A minor scale that are two bars long and then afterwards I'm gonna combine them into a free structure that works quite well. So I'm gonna loop two bars of my backing track. I'm gonna press play, and then I'm just gonna improvise a melody, here I've chosen an electric guitar. That's a sensible one for an instrumental melody in grunge. There might be other things that work as well. Here we go then, so it's improvise and create some two-bar phrases. (upbeat rock music) So I tried a few different phrases there. There was one I particularly like that I'm gonna record in, which is this one. (electric guitar music) So I'm gonna record that now. (metronome beeping) (upbeat rock music) Now that I've recorded that, I can move it outta the way for now. I'll just pop it over here and I'm gonna do the same and try and create a few other phrases that maybe contrast a little bit with that one. (upbeat rock music) I quite like that last one there so let's record that in, it's two bars long. (metronome beeping) (upbeat rock music) So that's another two-bar phrase. I'll maybe create three or four so that I've got things to choose from. So just move 'em out the way for now. (upbeat rock music) I quite like that last one. We can record that in. (metronome beeping) (upbeat rock music) And then let's make one more so that I've got four to choose from to combine into my melody. (metronome beeping) (upbeat rock music) So that's me created four separate phrases. They're all two bars long. They all use the A minor scale. And in the next video, I'm then gonna work out how to combine them to create an effective eight-bar melody. So to summarise the steps from that video, we used the A minor scale. We improvise a few different phrase ideas. We base the ideas around a whole note, in this case A. And then we recorded four different two-bar melodic phrases. And there we've got the A minor scale. So it's all the white notes, but it's important that we base it around A so that it feels like it's in A minor. To make a melody then we combine a few different phrases into a suitable phrase structure. If we think back to those examples we were looking back at the start of the lesson, we explored various different phrase structures and explored what makes an effective one and what makes a less effective one. And the key is that we have a balance between repetition and contrast. So we're gonna watch a video now, which shows us how to combine phrases to create a melody, and this will take those ideas that we've already got and put them into an effective phrase structure. Let's see how we do it. Now that I've created my different phrases, I'm gonna try and combine them together to create an effective melody and an effective phrase structure. As we know, a good melody should balance repetition and contrast. So we don't want new ideas every couple of bars, but equally, we don't want to just repeat the same thing over and over again. We need to find a balance between having new things and repeating the same things. The first thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna choose one of these phrases to use as my first phrase. So the one that's gonna start my melody, so I'm just gonna listen to them. I'm gonna try and pick the one that I want to start off my melody. (electric guitar music) That's the first one. That's the second one. Third one. Okay, so I think what I might do, I'm particularly keen on the third one, but I think actually the first one would work better as my initial phrase in my melody so I'm gonna pop that at the start and we'll call that my A section, my A phrase, because it's the first one that I'm gonna use. So let's have a listen to that with the backing track. (upbeat rock music) Now I need to think what's gonna come next. So I want a different second phrase. I think this is where I might use that third one 'cause I really like that one. So see how these combine together. (upbeat rock music) I think that works really well. So we've got an A phrase and then a different one. So we call that a B phrase, so we've got A, B. What I might do here is go back to my A phrase. So we have ABA, that means we're getting a little bit of repetition. So I'll copy that and paste that. Let's see how it sounds now. (upbeat rock music) And then I just need one last phrase. So at the moment I've got ABA, I could repeat the B phrase, and it means we just have ABAB, or I could try and add one of these different ones for the ending. So it's just listen to those two again to see what I want as my fourth phrase. (upbeat rock music) That's one I think. I think this one is more interesting, so I'm gonna go for that one there. So we've now got ABAC. We've got some repetition 'cause I've got the A phrase twice, but we've also got some contrast 'cause we've got both the B and the C phrase, and they all sound a little bit different from each other. So let's listen to the whole eight-bar melody together then. (upbeat rock music) I think that's brill, I'm really happy with that. And what I can do if I want to combine them into one melody is drag a box over them and then I can merge them together by clicking join regions. That then then just combines them into one region so if I want to copy and paste it so it'll be easier. Finally, let's watch a video that shows us then how to take that chorus and copy it into other parts of our song. Here we go. Now that I've created my melody, I just need to make sure I've got it in the right places in my track. So I've already decided that this riff and this melody are gonna be my chorus melody. At the moment I've put them where my intro will be at the start, but now what I wanna do is copy them so that they're in each chorus throughout my song. So I'm gonna right click and copy these sections, and I know in my verse chorus form that I've got, first of all, my intro. Then I've got my verse here. Then it's gonna be a chorus at bar 17. So I'm gonna copy my melody in there. I've then got another verse, and then another course at bar 33, so I can copy it in there, paste it in. Then I'll have my middle eight section, and then I've got my final chorus at bar 49, so I can paste in there as well. I'm gonna talk about what to do with my intro section later on, but for now, I'm just copying the riff, the bass line, and the melody for my chorus into each chorus so that I've got those building blocks in place ready for me to work on some of the other sections of my song. Summarise those steps then. To make a suitable phrase structure, use one of the following structures, ABAB, ABAC, or AABB to ensure there's a balance of repetition and contrast. Join the phrases together and then copy the melody into the appropriate sections in your grunge composition. Let's check your understanding. How many phrases will create an effective melody? Four two-bar phrases, three two-bar phrases, four three-bar phrases, or three three-bar phrases? Give you a few seconds to work out the correct answer. And the correct answer then is four two-bar phrases. So that's what we're creating, two-bar phrases, and we'll create four of them. Which phrase structure would not be suitable for your grunge composition? AABB, ABAB, ABBB, or ABAC? I'll give you a second just to work that one out. And the correct answer then is ABBB, and that's because there's not enough contrast in that, we're repeating the same phrase three times back to back, which doesn't have enough contrast. For task B you're gonna create your melody for one section of your compositions, that's for the chorus. Some success criteria is that it uses a suitable grunge instrument, such as an electric guitar, it's probably the most suitable, really. It uses the notes of the A minor scale, that's all the white notes, centred on the note A. It has four phrases and each one ask for two bars and has an effective phrase structure, such as AABB, AABA, ABAB, or ABAC. So you can pause my video now and have a go at creating your melody. Good luck. For the second part of task B, we're gonna listen to three different melodies. There are two questions here. The first is, which melody uses the phrase structure ABAC? So as you're listening, try to maybe write down or remember the phrase structure of each one. And then secondly, how do these examples match the success criteria? So what do they do effectively in relation to those success criteria we were going for. Here then is the first example, this is example A. (upbeat rock music) Now time for example B. Again, trying to pick out the phrase structure and thinking about how these examples match the success criteria. Here's B. (upbeat rock music) And finally then, example C. (upbeat rock music) So you can pause my video, go through those two questions there with your answers, and when you're ready, unpause it and we'll discuss these. For question two then, the correct answer was the second one. That is the one with the phrase structure ABAC. Let's just have a quick listen to that. (upbeat rock music) So really well done if you picked that out there. As I said earlier, it's not easy to identify melodic phrase structure by ear. So if you did get that one great effort. For question three then, they meet the success criteria because they all use a distorted electric guitar sound and the notes of the A minor scale. They all have four two-bar phrases and are in a suitable structure in which the phrases repeat, so there's a good amount of repetition. Example, A is AABB, and example C is ABAB. So actually any of those melodies have a good balance of repetition and contrast. Fantastic effort if you managed to pick up on those different melodic phrase structures there and well done as well, if you picked up on how they met the success criteria. To summarise our lesson then, a phrase is a short section of a melody. When writing a melody, we need to use a phrase structure that balances repetition and contrast. Some of the most popular phrase structures that achieve this balance are AABB, AABA, ABAB, and ABAC. The a minor scale is a set of notes that uses only the white notes on the piano. This is the simplest minor key to composing. So that's the end of our lesson. Thank you very much for taking part. I hope you feel that the composition is starting to take shape and come to life a little bit now that it's got a melody in it, and we'll continue building on it in future lessons. I'll see you in the next one.