I'm about to show you some Melodic Contour examples so that you can use them in your
own songwriting.
What is Melodic Contour?
Well, it's the same as Melodic Shape or the shape of your melody.
There are common shapes that occur throughout all the music that you hear.
Being aware of them and using these strategies yourself will unlock one of the main keys
to successful songwriting.
Hi.
I'm Heather Greenslade with Singer Songwriting School.
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If you ever got stuck writing melodic lines for your songs, keep watching.
You're in the right place.
By the end of this video, you'll have four Melodic Contours to look at and you'll see
examples of those.
Then, you can use those in your own writing.
I've written lots of songs using similar Melodic Contours.
Now, it's your turn to throw these super useful tools into your songwriting toolbox.
The first Melodic Contour I'm going to talk about is simply a straight line.
Now, one note melodies go all the way back to Gregorian Chant.
It's also a hallmark of Taylor Swift's writing.
Check out this one note melody section of Nicki Minaj singing the verse of Turn Me On.
One note melody line sounds like such a boring and terrible idea.
Why does it work?
Well, for one thing, you can't keep your whole song at that one note melody.
You've got to just change it up section by section, mo matter what you do with production
or instrumentation.
For example, in this song, once we get to the chorus, he not only starts writing in
a way that's jumping around melodically, but the vocals are also in a different melodic
range.
We've jumped up a bit.
Take a listen.
So the contrast between the two sections creates an energy shift that keeps the listeners engaged.
I mentioned that Taylor Swift is known for one note melodies, but she certainly writes
in other Melodic Contours as well.
For most of the verse of I Knew You Were Trouble, she sings in a descending melody.
Check it out.
But, she changes it up before it gets to repetitive.
She uses different Melodic Contours in different parts of the song.
For example, check out the chorus.
Not only is she bouncing up and down in this section, but she's doing it in big leaps,
rather than the step wise section of the melody in the verse.
Again, this is working because she's doing this certain structure here, then when we
get to a different section of the song, she's making it totally different.
It's such a critical issue as a songwriter to make the sections of your song distinct.
That's how you maintain interest and engagement from your listeners.
We've talked about one note Melodic Contours.
We've talked about descending Melodic Contours.
So let's talk about that ascending shape, shall we?
A great example of that is Katy Perry in Firework.
When we get to that pre-chorus, it just goes up, up, up, up.
Check it out.
Why does it work?
Well, by now you probably know it's partially because when she gets to the next section
of the chorus, she changes it up.
So her pre-chorus, up, up, up.
What's she do when she hits that chorus?
She's heading back down.
Check it out.
Brilliant.
Okay.
One more example for this video.
Check out this part of the melody for Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud.
Up, up, up, down, up, up, up, down, up, up, up, down.
When he gets to the pre-chorus he makes the section distinct in a couple of ways.
One of those ways is changing the rhythm.
He's actually singing triplets.
Da-da-da- da.
Da-da-da da.
It's this syncopated and triplet rhythm and then he starts into this straight eighths.
Ba-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.
That's a big switch up.
It helps.
Do you already notice the Melodic Contour in songs?
Or is this a new tool for you in the songwriting process?
Let me know in the comments.
Another strategy for making the sections of your song distinct is changing up the rhyme
scheme.
If you want to see my series of videos all about that, go here.
Now you know what Melodic Contour is, and a little bit about how songwriters apply that
in their process.
Now, it's your turn to consciously apply that to your songs.
Give it a go.
If you like this video, let me know by liking it below so that I know to make more videos
like this.
Also, share with any of the other songwriters you know who might find it helpful.
If you found it helpful, comment helpful below.
Happy songwriting.