Melody

A melody comes from the Greek word melōidía, meaning "singing, chanting." It is a sequence of musical notes that people hear as one complete idea. Think of a melody as the main tune you hum or whistle—a straight line of sounds that stands out from the background music.

In simple terms, a melody is made up of pitch and rhythm. Pitch tells us how high or low a note sounds, while rhythm gives the beat and timing. Melodies often have repeating parts, and they appear in many songs and pieces of music.

Melodies can move in different ways. They also have shapes and feelings, such as building up excitement and then calming down. This makes melodies an important part of how music tells a story and connects with listeners.

Function and elements

Johann Philipp Kirnberger thought that melody is the true goal of music. He believed that all parts of harmony work together to create beautiful melody.

Norwegian composer Marcus Paus said that melody is like a scent to our senses—it helps us remember things. He explained that melody gives music a face and identity. Melodies in older European music and popular music often had clear patterns. In the 20th century, melodies began using more pitches. Musicians also focused more on texture and loudness. The main parts of any melody are how long each note lasts, the pitch of the notes, and the sound quality or timbre.

Examples

Music uses melodies in different ways. For example:

• Jazz musicians call the main melody the "lead" or "head." They use it to start improvisation.
• Rock music and other types of popular music and folk music usually have one or two main melodies, like the verse and chorus. Sometimes they add a third melody called a bridge or middle eight.
• Indian classical music focuses a lot on melody and rhythm. It does not use many harmony changes.
• Balinese gamelan music often plays many versions of one melody at once, called heterophony.
• In western classical music, composers start with a melody or theme and make changes to it. They can play several melodies together, called polyphony, like in a fugue, a type of counterpoint. Melodies can be made from small parts called motifs. Richard Wagner created special melodies called leitmotif, linked to ideas or places.
• Older popular music and classical music focused on how high or low the notes were and how long they lasted. Newer music from the 20th and 21st centuries also looks at sound quality. Examples include musique concrète, klangfarbenmelodie, Elliott Carter's Eight Etudes and a Fantasy, Ruth Crawford-Seeger's String Quartet 1931, and György Ligeti's Aventures.