Ideas on Constructing Melodies

• The melody for your chorus is usually higher in pitch than in the verses. This makes the chorus bigger and more powerful.
  
  
• You will want to have contrast between sections. If one part of you song has short phrases, lots of space, or long notes, another section is likely to be different in some way, i.e. with longer phrases, less space, or shorter notes. Be aware of what characteristics the section you are working on has and be fairly consistent. Having fewer elements in one section will give you more characteristics you can use to create contrast in another.
  
  
• Create a rhythmic groove with a chord progression that you like. Loop it and improvise bits of your lyrics. Find pitches that you like. Be sure to have a recording device (like a phone) handy in case you come up with something you like so you can capture it before you forget it.
  
  
• Reading aloud with expression is great skill for songwriters to develop. Study great actors and see how they do it—their timing, phrasing, emphasis, and intonation. Try reading one of the lines of your lyrics aloud as if you were on stage and delivering it witha lot of emotion, then repeat it a couple times even more dramatically. Notice how your voice naturally goes up and down and the rhythm of your words changes to fit the syllables. Exaggerate this and gradually let the ups and downs in your spoken voice turn into pitches until you have a melody. Keep experimenting with it gradually adding chords until it feels good to you.
  
  
• Keep your phrases short and avoid having too many different pitches. You can always link multiple phrases later to form longer lines. More than seven notes are hard for an audience to remember. One of the goals is to make it easy to remember, so people will recognize the next time they hear it and stick with it.
  
  
• Today, most listeners relate to groove more than pitch. The melody doesn't have to have a lot of movement to be interesting. A relatively monotonous melody centering on a few different pitches with an occasional leap that emphasizes an important syllable in your lyrics can work well. Think about the contour of a mountain range. It is mostly relatively flat with an occasional peak or valley. Too much change is hard for a listener to follow.
  
  
• Analyze your lyrics. Underline the most important syllable(s) in each line. Emphasis can be achieved by making a note longer, higher, and/or on the beat, and the emphasis changes the meaning. Try emphasizing each of the following capitalized letters by holding them longer and/or speaking them on a higher pitch. See how the meaning and feeling of each is different:

SHE was all I ever knew.

SHE was ALL I ever knew.

She was all I ever knew.

She was all I EVer knew.

She was all I ever KNEW.

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