Before you
start creating your melodies, you probably already know the
message of your song and also the key phrase of the song.
This is important as the mood of the music will depend very
much on the message of the song.
Eg. God is good
- It should have a bright melody
Heart of worship - slow and gentle
When I survey the wondrous cross serious and reflective as
it talks of the cross.
The best songs
are usually written when you have a phrase that God has specifically
spoken to you.
Eg.1 "She
moves her feet to dance" when I first saw a girl coming
to church in a wheel chair after she was struck with sickness
and paralyzed. God told me she will dance one day.
Eg 2. "Unheard
Voices" God spoke to me after a meeting where the speaker
spoke about the great needs in the third world countries. God
told me that there were billions of people living in poverty
and dying . Their voices are unheard.
Part of your
melodies may sound the same like another song. Dont worry
too much about this. As you proceed, your music will diverge
and it will not be similar anymore. If there are identical,
change it later to create a variance. Melodic patterns repeat
themselves in many songs.
Make sure your
melody and lyrics matches
Melodies usually
run in patterns. Create melodies with repetitive patterns.
A song may only have 2 melodic patterns in the chorus and
probably another 2 in the verses. If you have too many patterns,
no one will be able to sing your song.
Example
When I survey
2 melodic patterns in the whole song
"I just
called to say I love you" - 2 melodic patterns in chorus
and 2 melodic patterns in the verse.
Trading my sorrows
2 patterns in chorus and 1 pattern in verse (yes Lord)
Every Time I
pray 2 patterns in the chorus and 2 patterns in the verses.
Ticket to heaven
2 patterns in chorus and 2 patterns in verses
Think of some
nice melodic and rhythmic hooks to make your song interesting.
This is how we
overcome Rhythmic hook
Trading my sorrows
Hooks at the introduction
The best melodies
may come by inspiration. Record it immediately. You can always
complete your song later. If you do not record it, you will
forget the melody as soon as you leave it.
Melody patterns
changes with times. Keep your melodies current. You do not
want to write melodies which are 20 years old. Usually it
is the beats and syncopation which make the melodies change.
Chords and inversions also do change with times.
Eg. Every Time
I Pray R and B version recorded in year 2000 compared with
the original version written in 1981.
60s, 70s, 80s
and 90s music are all different.
Keep an eye
on your melodic range. It depends what you want to use the
song for. If you want the song for congregation singing, your
highest note should be D above middle C. If you are writing
for Michael Bolton, you can go as high as G above middle C.
Usually verses
and chorus run in 8 or 16 bars. These are very common. However
for complex songs, they do run away from these bar numbers.
You can only
write up to the ability of your understanding of chords. Different
chords change the moods of a tune. So build yourselves with
a huge reservoir of chords and their progressions and the
various styles so you have a lot of reserve to tap on when
you create melodies.
