What makes an effective melody?

Question

tanner23456 · Answer

I thought this would be an interesting area of discussion, considering it is one of the most crucial parts of a song?

anonymous · Answer

This paper covers quite a bit of it. http://www.vtmidi.org/podcast_files/episode1/Podcast1-melody.pdf "What I CAN say is that many effective melodies include the following elements: a strong sense of keynote, repetition, mostly steps going from note to note with a few skips as well, and a good shape."

tanner23456 · Answer

This is an interesting paper. There's so much that goes into this that I don't think we realize. It's been a while since I've been in music theory so refresh my memory if you can. It seems in a phrase you weren't supposed repeat the top note. Correct me if I'm wrong. Also what are the rules on leaps in a melody. How far are they typically supposed to be?

tanner23456 · Answer

Thank you for posting. These are some very insightful tips. I had never given much thought to some of these things. Have you had a lot of experience in music theory classes?

anonymous · Answer

I've also read a couple of studies that talk about how the human mind finds music pleasing according to melody concerning complexity. The more complex a piece the more we appreciate it. Up until a point. As soon as the piece grows too complex the human mind tends to shut it out as just noise and we lose appreciation. Fascinating stuff actually.