Sing The Melody
Jan. 27, 2021
I wrote in the previous article that there isn’t the direct method to get a melody. So here I’m not going to write how to make a melody, but what I did to make a melody.
When I was a child, I didn’t understand the meaning of the word “melody”. I think that’s because I had often listened to orchestral songs since I was a baby. We were not a musical family, but my father and uncle listened to symphonies by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, etc. on LP players, which were a luxury item in those days, and I also listened to them.
Symphonies are a mixture of many sounds and they trying to stand out for each other, so there is no clear line that says, “This is the melody.” And I received all those sounds equally, so if I was asked “What’s the melody of the first movement of the Symphony No.4 ?”, I would have said, “What?”.
But if I asked, “Sing me the first movement,” I would have picked out one of the overlapping sounds and sang it with my voice. I realized that the line that makes me want to sing and tell, must be the melody. I finally noticed it when I was a junior high school student.
So I thought the simplest way to make a melody was to sing aloud. In Oh! Italia and A Song of the Sea, I actually sang aloud to make the melodies. However, just thinking “OK, I’ll sing !” was not enough. There was a little “method” to do it.
First, what do I sing about? If I have a lyrics, it’ll be much easier to sing. However classical guitar songs doesn’t have lyrics, and unfortunately I can’t write a good lyrics. But I came up it’s good to have a visible theme instead of lyrics. In the case of Oh! Italia, it was the scenery of Venice.
And second, I also decide the image of “me” singing the song. This is also a part of the scenery. I sang aloud as if I were a well-dressed Italian tenor singer.
And third, what I want to tell to the audience? It was “Venice, the city full of charm.” This is the theme of the song.
When I really feel the scene and theme, the song comes out naturally. What are the lyrics to sing? “Tah La La La…” is enough. I tried to tell the charm of Venice with the emotion instead the words.
⇒Oh! Italia: Stuff Notation ↗️
The point of this “method” is to create and become a singing scene as realistically as possible. In other words, composing is creating this scene.
It’s an unreliable method, so I can’t always do it well, but if lucky, I can do it. When I can’t, try another day, or try a different theme.
A Song of the Sea was created the melody in the same way. The scene is the sea keeps sending waves quietly even though there is no one. My heart just looks at me quietly. This time “I” am a calm alto singer. Sing quietly alone on an empty beach. The audience is the sea. The sea doesn’t say anything, it just responds with the coming waves. But I keep singing. There are some measures with no melody in the song. They are the part that the sea sings.
⇒A Song of the Sea: Stuff Notation ↗️
However, I only used this ‘sing aloud’ method for these two songs. Because I found an easier way than it. But I still think this is a good way. Because the voice is the heart. Unlike the sound of musical instruments, the voice has an emotion in it, even if it is only one note. And when I make an emotional voice, it pulls me into more emotions. Maybe I should continue this method rather than the easier way.
Then, what is the “easier way”? It’s not much of a method, but I will write about it as next article.
← Write Rhythm In / Sing On Guitar →
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