Chapter Eight Outline: “Melody”

 

Melody: the sequence of individual notes that make up the tune

            Defined by rhythm, pitch range, intervals between, and duration of notes

Motive: a short melodic fragment crafted to be memorable

 

Melodic Lines in a Non-Western Melody

            Melodic line: a series of pitches with both continuity and direction

                        Complicated shapes, particularly when instrumentalists “bend”

pitches or slide rapidly between different pitches

 

In History: Raga Bhankar

            Classical Indian music is not written down but transmitted orally; thus, it is not tied to a specific historical moment

            Sitar: structure standardized in the last two centuries, has around 20 strings divided into melodic, drone, and sympathetic groups. Was made popular in the West by performers such as Pandit Ravi Shankar and the Beatles.

            Classical music and musicians in India are not separated from the audience in the same way as in the West

 

Melody in Western Music

            Western melodies tend to be relatively short and uncomplicated because they must compete with other elements such as form and harmony

Lyricism, or singability, is important in establishing a memorable melody

Musical intervals: the spatial relationship of notes, either horizontally in melody or vertically in harmony

Conjunct: Each pitch is followed by one directly above or below it

Disjunct: The melodic line contains leaps between notes

Rhythm and Melody

            Regular rhythms are easier to sing than irregular ones

Phrase Structure

            Lyrical melodies are usually made up of balanced phrases that end with harmonic closure at a cadence

 

Dvořák, Dance, and Poetry

            A.E. Housman makes use of rhyme and punctuation to structure his poems

            Dvořák echoes this by using similar melodic material to “rhyme” phrases

 

Roots of Modern Melody

            Balanced phrases: paired phrases of equal length are virtually unique to Western music; originated in the late Middle Ages with the troubadours

            Balanced Phrase Structure: The Dies Irae

                        One of the most recognizable melodies from the Middle Ages, quoted

extensively throughout Western classical music; there are three melodies in

the sequence, each of which is given to two stanzas

            The first melody is largely syllabic and covers a narrow range; the

other melodies have wider ranges and are somewhat less syllabic

 

Melodic Phrase Structure: From Celano to Chopin and Debussy

            Chopin’s melodies tend to be wide-ranging, disjunct, rhythmically

varied, and highly ornamented; there is also significant internal repetition

            Debussy’s melodic phrases tend to be interrupted by changes in tempo or meter, disrupting any sense that certain phrases belong together

 

Musical Motives: Classical- and Romantic-era music often relies on motives rather than full-blown melodies

            The Opening Notes as Motive: Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony

                        One of the most famous motives in history: four notes with the final

one marked with a fermata

            Continually unfolds the character of the work, holding “the spirit

firmly in an unnameable longing”

Motivic Cohesiveness: The Second Theme of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony

            The motive is not only stated but developed and transformed

Melody and Thematic Development: The Development Section

            Beethoven continues to alter the original motive in new ways

Bringing It All Together: The Recapitulation

            Continues to break the motive down until finally the original returns,

leading into the recapitulation

 

Focus on E.T.A. Hoffman

            German writer and composer central to early Romanticism

            Fiction epitomizes the Romantic obsession with the supernatural; best known for what would become The Nutcracker and for The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr

 

Motive and Melody

            Many pieces have melodies or motives that are not especially melodic; many lengthy works rely on a developmental process that is difficult to accomplish with a long-breathed melody

            Thematic Development in Mozart

                        Mozart combines a short motive with a longer line in both his

Symphony No. 40 and in the first movement of the Gran Partita

            Changes in timbre and texture are as important as development

 

Melody, timbre, and rhythm are often intertwined: each has a role to play