Composing a progression and a melody
A simple method for writing your first short piece, from key and chords to harmonic rhythm and melody.
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Content under musical review. It may contain inaccuracies.
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A simple method for writing your first short piece, from key and chords to harmonic rhythm and melody.
Applied
Composing doesn't require a sudden flash of inspiration; it requires small decisions, one after another. Here's a five-step method for writing eight bars with chords and melody. All the material is original, and you can change it however you like.
A four-chord progression in C major, one chord per bar:
And a melody that lands on a tone of each chord on beat one:
The notes available for the melody come from the major scale. Each bar's chord tones are the most stable ones:
String 6, Open: E2 · 3 · Third
Load the progression, set it looping and improvise a melody by singing or playing. Change one chord at a time and hear how your melody reacts:
I – vi – IV – V progressionOnce you have an idea, jot it down in the sketchpad:
Open the sketchpadThe five steps:
A classic eight-bar form is question and answer: four bars ending on the dominant, open, and four ending on the tonic, closed.
Put chord tones on strong beats and use scale notes on weak beats to join them. If a non-chord tone falls on a strong beat, let it resolve by step to a chord tone. That's the principle behind appoggiaturas, and it adds expression without losing clarity.
Perricone advises giving the melody a high point: the highest note appears only once, usually about two thirds of the way through. Before it, the melody climbs with alternating steps and leaps; after it, it descends towards the cadence. Also try replacing a chord in the second phrase with one borrowed from the minor key, such as the minor iv, for colour before the ending.