Melody

Melody, an organized succession of notes of specific pitch and duration, linked together in time to produce a coherent musical expression. In terms of Western music, melody is (along with rhythm) the “horizontal” aspect of music, proceeding in time, while harmony is the “vertical” aspect, being the simultaneous sounding of different pitches. In many of the world's musical cultures harmony is unimportant and melody is the sole focus of pitch activity (in Hindustani and Carnatic music, for example).

As a general rule, melodies deriving from folk music traditions have more restricted vocal ranges (usually within an octave) and move from one note to the next by small intervals, often step-wise (to the adjacent note above or below, sometimes called conjunct motion)—an example of this type is God save the Queen, which has a range of a seventh and no leap larger than a major third. By contrast, melodies in composed music have tended to use wider ranges and larger leaps between notes (sometimes called disjunct motion)—an example of this type is La Marseillaise, which has a range of a ninth and leaps as large as a minor sixth. Rhythm, tempo, and accompanying harmony are also important in defining the character of a melody—two melodies may use precisely the same series of pitch relationships but, with different rhythms or in different metres, have completely separate identities. Thus the theme of the Pas de deux from The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky is the same as that of the carol “Joy to the World”—both are a simple descending major scale—but rhythm and harmony make them distinct. In instrumental music, the particular technical capabilities and limitations of different instruments also affect the nature of melodies written for them. In nonharmonic musical systems the use of modes is the dominant way of constructing melodies: each mode not only specifies the notes used, but also the character of the melody and the use of certain melodic-rhythmic formulae; the implied harmonic background is static. In Western music, on the other hand, the influence of harmony has tended towards the creation of melodies that imply harmonic progressions to the ear of the listener, even if the melody is heard unaccompanied. This characteristic melodic language is found in every genre of tonal music, including the great bulk of popular music over the last century. The development of atonal music that took place in the early 20th century, and the eventual creation of the twelve-tone system, had a profound effect in turn on the relationship between melody and harmony, effectively severing the direct relationship that functional tonality had made between them. Melodies in the mature works of the Second Viennese School composers (Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern), being freed from the constraints of tonal harmony, were thus characteristically angular, with wide leaps through the entire range of intervals.

See also Music.