What makes a melody?

Most people know a good tune when they hear one. It's the sort of thing you hear people whistling as they work, or singing in the shower. It is easily memorable. It gives pleasure to hear it, to play it, or to sing it.

But how can we theoretically analyse a tune to see if it has a good melody? Or automate the composition process to let the computer generate a memorable melody?  The answer is - we can't.  All we can do is note some characteristics of well-known and loved tunes, and then try to generate many tunes at random that simulate these characteristics, and ask a real human being to pick any they might like, if indeed, any at all.

You can sample some randomly-generated computer tunes by clicking the green button at left Play a computer-generated random tune.  Keep on hitting this button till you hear something you like. It is likely to take dozens and dozens of attempts before anything mildly pleasing is played.  You can view the staff notation for this tune by clicking the blue button View staff notation for this tune.

On the other hand, try some well-known tunes written by human beings, by clicking the pink button Play a 'Good' Tune.  They are all immediately easy to listen to.

Musical Discovery has a comprehensive computer tune generator by going to MENU  Create -> Compositions -> Tune and Rhythmic Pattern Generator.  This is a part of the Composing Tools section of Musical Discovery.


TheoryMelody.htm     09/11/06 12:40            MENU -> Theory -> Keys, Scales and Melody -> What Makes a Good melody