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Section 1

Melodic Movement

Great and memorable melodies are often ones that are easy to sing, even if they’re meant to be played by an instrument. Perhaps we find a tune more enjoyable if we can imagine singing it – or perhaps the qualities that make something easy to sing are also valuable aesthetically. This famous melody from Brahms’ First Symphony, for example, could easily be a song with words:

What is it that makes this melody easy to sing?

• Limited range: Brahms’ melody never gets very far away in pitch from where it started. The excerpt above is confined to the notes
within a seventh. Most famous melodies stay within an octave, or at most, an octave plus a third or fourth.

• Conjunct motion: The movement is mostly by step, with some small leaps (a leap is defined as any interval larger than a second).
No leap in this melody is larger than a fifth, and even that leap marks a dividing point in the tune (measure 4). If you would like your
melody to have a similar flowing quality be sure to use mostly stepwise movement, with occasional small leaps. Melodies with mostly
stepwise movement are called conjunct Conjunct Melodic movement that’s mostly stepwise. A conjunct melody is one that moves stepwise with few small leaps. The opposite of conjunct is disjunct. , those with many large leaps are disjunct Disjunct Melodic movement characterized by skips or leaps rather than steps. The opposite of disjunct is conjunct. . Most successful melodies are conjunct.

Movie 10.1  Theme from final movement of Brahms' Symphony No. 1

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Movie 10.3  The conjunct motion of “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” makes it easy to sing.
Large leaps (shown in brackets) and awkward intervals make the second melody much
more difficult to sing.

Movie 10.2  Avoid successive leaps in the same direction, except among notes of the same triad.

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Repetition

A good melody is more than just something that is singable. If a great melody could be written by merely following the above rules, then even Practica Musica could write one – but the tunes invented by Practica Musica seem to wander around in a pleasant way without really saying anything meaningful (sometimes they will sound meaningful, but if so, it’s just good luck). Perhaps we should compare the Brahms melody with one invented by the computer, to see if we can discover why the first sounds meaningful and the other is only amusing.

One big difference is that the machine-made melody has no repetition, whereas the last four measures of the Brahms are almost the same as the first four.

Movie 10.4  This melody invented by Practica Musica follows the rules for melodic movement but it is not likely to give competition to Brahms. Is there anything specific you could name that the Brahms melody has and this one lacks?

Figure 10.1  Repetition in the Brahms melody

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Music depends a great deal on repetition. Listening to a piece of music is a little like hearing a story told in a new language whose words are taught to you as you go along. The teaching is done through repetition of melody fragments, chord progressions,
or of whole sections.

Often the repetition is not exact: it may involve some kind of variation or development of the original idea. The fourth measure of the Brahms tune is slightly varied when it returns. The third
and fourth measures of “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” represent a
more extensive variation or development of the idea that formed the first two measures.

In both tunes this development of a previous idea helps give
the listener the impression that the melody is a unified whole rather than just a string of unrelated notes. The melody invented by Practica Musica, on the other hand, presented several “ideas” but didn’t do anything with them – it just wandered on to other ideas. That shows a certain lack of appreciation for its own work, which is part of the reason why the computer is no threat to the
livelihood of human composers.

Figure 10.2  Repetition with development in
“My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”

Review 10.1

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Section 2

The Phrase

An important characteristic of the Brahms tune is that it clearly divides into phrases. The musical phrase Phrase Analogous to a spoken phrase and is sometimes set off in performance by a taking of breath or a slight pause. In music of the common practice period, melodic phrases are symmetrical and are generally four measures long (or two, depending on the meter). is like a spoken phrase or a line of poetry. It’s separated from the next phrase by a form of musical punctuation that has an effect much like the end of a poetic line, often producing a slight pause or the taking of a breath. In classical music, melodic phrases are symmetrical and are typically four measures long.

The two phrases of the Brahms begin in the same way but end differently. Have you noticed that the first phrase seems incomplete without the second phrase? That is because the two phrase endings are not just melodically different, they are harmonically different. The tune begins on the tonic chord, passes through the subdominant, and at the end of phrase 1 comes to rest on the dominant. The “incomplete” feeling associated with the dominant tells the listener that more is to come. The second phrase, on the other hand, ends on a solid tonic chord, marking the end of a neat musical “statement.” Such endings of phrases are called open and closed endings. The closed ending Closed Ending Describes the ending of a phrase that finishes on a note belonging to the tonic chord. In contrast, an open ended phrase ends on a note that doesn’t belong to the tonic chord.

Harmonically speaking, an open ending concludes with a half cadence, a closed ending finishes on the tonic chord with an authentic or plagal cadence.

An antecedent-consequent phrase pair is one in which
the open ending of the first phrase produces a feeling of expectation which is answered by the closed ending
of the second phrase. must finish on a note of the tonic chord while the open ending Open Ending Describes the end of a phrase that finishes on a note not belonging to the tonic chord. In contrast, a closed phrase ending finishes on a note belonging to the tonic chord.

Harmonically speaking, an open ending concludes with a half cadence, a closed ending finishes on the tonic chord with an authentic or plagal cadence.

An antecedent-consequent phrase pair is one in which
the open ending of the first phrase produces a feeling of expectation which is answered by the closed ending
of the second phrase. should finish on a different note, often one of those that make up the dominant chord. A phrase pair such as this one, in which the second phrase seems to answer a question posed by the first phrase, is known as an antecedent-consequent phrase pair Antecedent-Consequent Phrase Pair A phrase pair in which the second phrase seems to answer a question posed by the first phrase. The open ending of the first phrase concludes with a half cadence which gives a feeling of expectation. The second phrase ending is closed, with a cadence to the tonic. . The first phrase ending is open and the second ending is closed.

The Period

An antecedent-consequent pair makes a natural phrase grouping called a period Period Two or more phrases, often four measures each, consisting
of at least one antecedent (an open ended phrase) and one consequent phrase. A period always has a closed ending. Periods can be parallel or contrasting. If the phrase beginnings closely resemble each other, they form a parallel period. If the phrase beginnings are not similar, it’s called a contrasting period. , which is roughly analogous to a complete sentence in language. A period is two or more phrases, often four measures each, consisting of at least one antecedent and one consequent phrase. A period always has a closed ending. Periods can be parallel or contrasting. If the phrase beginnings closely resemble each other, as is the case in the Brahms example, they form a parallel period.

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When analyzing music it’s customary to label similar phrases with corresponding letters, like a and a’. If the phrases are not that similar but still have an antecedent-consequent relationship, they form a contrasting period (labeled a b).

Cadences

The effect of an “open” ending and a “closed” one is produced by the cadence Cadence A chord change that marks the end of a phrase. Cadences are a form of musical punctuation; some cadences produce only a pause, while others mark a resting point or final conclusion.

Phrases with cadences ending on a chord other than the tonic, are open ended. To close the end of a phrase, a cadence ending on the tonic is needed.

An authentic cadence can be either perfect or imperfect (see below). The perfect authentic cadence is the most final sounding of all cadences and, therefore, the final phrase of a period almost always ends with a PAC. at the end of each phrase. A cadence is a real or implied chord change that provides a kind of harmonic punctuation at a phrase ending, just as a comma or period can end
a phrase in verbal language.

The V-I cadence, called the authentic cadence Authentic Cadence A V-I chord change that marks the end of a phrase. An authentic cadence is termed perfect only if the tonic is in the upper-most voice of the resolution and both the V and I chords are in root position. Otherwise, it’s an imperfect authentic cadence. , could be likened to a period at the end of a sentence; it sounds like a conclusion.
A perfect authentic cadence, abbreviated PAC, is one that ends with the tonic note in the upper voice and both the V and I chords in root position. The final phrase of a period almost always ends with a PAC. An imperfect authentic cadence has the 3rd or 5th in the upper voice and it is not as conclusive as the PAC.

The first phrase of the Brahms example ended with a I-V. This is called a half cadence Half Cadence A chord change that marks the end of a phrase. A cadence to V, like I-V, is a half cadence – it leaves the listener waiting for more. It contrasts the authentic cadence of V-I. – it seems to leave us waiting for something else to happen. You might liken it to this: the colon. See if you can hear the difference between the half cadence (HC) and the PAC in the following Bach chorale.

Movie 10.5  Parallel phrases in the Brahms melody

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You may hear of a iv⁶-V half cadence being called the Phrygian half cadence. That’s owing to the half step in the bass that recalls
the Phrygian mode. A cadence of IV-I is a plagal cadence, sometimes called the “amen” cadence because of its use at the end of hymns. The word “plagal” derives from the Greek for “sideways,” which perhaps will help you remember the term – the plagal cadence feels like leaning from IV back to I. Yet another type of cadence, the deceptive cadence, is one that does the unexpected:
you might be expecting a I following a cadential V but get a vi chord instead. Keep in mind that not every V-I or IV-I or IV-V is
a cadence: cadences occur at the ends of musical phrases.

Movie 10.6  Half cadence and perfect authentic cadence from Bach: Aus Meines Herzens Grunde

Movie 10.7  Plagal and the deceptive cadences

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Let’s look at the cadences in a two-phrase contrasting period from Mozart. The second phrase does not repeat the beginning of the
first one, but their melodic material is very similar. The cadences show that they are clearly an antecedent-consequent phrase pair.
The first phrase ends on a half cadence, leading us to expect that a conclusion will follow. The second phrase finishes the period with
a perfect authentic cadence.

Movie 10.8  A contrasting period from Mozart's “Ein Madchen oder Weibchen” The Magic Flute

Suggested Practica Musica Activities 10.1

• Cadences: Identify the cadence used in each example.

Figure 10.3  Table of Cadence Types

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Review 10.2

4. A cadence is the chord change that marks the end
of a phrase. A cadence that ends on the dominant
is called a half cadence; it produces an open phrase ending. The authentic cadence, V-I, and the plagal cadence, IV-I, produce a closed phrase ending, since they end on the tonic. When a V chord unexpectedly resolves to a chord other than tonic (usually the
vi chord) it’s called a deceptive cadence.

5. The perfect authentic cadence is the most final sounding of all cadences. An authentic cadence is considered “perfect” when both the dominant and tonic chords are in root position and the tonic note
is in the upper-most voice of the final I chord.
A dominant-tonic cadence that does not meet the above criteria is considered “ imperfect.”

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Section 3

Harmonic Implications of Melody

Cadences have brought us to an important aspect of melody: its implied harmony. A successful melody in the tonal style will tend to suggest harmonies that make a strong chord progression according to the principles of Chapter 9.

This melody seems to demand the harmony provided by Brahms, a very clear and solid progression using I, IV, and V:

The harmony that’s best suited to a given melody is another clue to its potential success: it’s hard to imagine a successful tune that could not be harmonized with a good chord progression. Understanding how a melody implies harmony will help you to compose your own melodies, and will also enable you to harmonize an existing tune.

"My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” also carries a chord progression that is firm and logical. It could be harmonized with just I, IV, and V, but often secondary chords and even the “V⁷ of vi” are added, making a strong chain-of-fourths progression (Movie 10.10).

Movie 10.9  Implied harmony of the Brahms melody

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Harmonizing Melody

A melody may contain ambiguous places where either of two chords would serve as well, but often the implied harmony is clearly spelled out. Some melodies signal the chords that underlie them by outlining those chords melodically: it’s easy to tell such a melody by the fact that it moves mostly by leaps of a third. Two leaps of a third in the same direction will, of course, always spell a triad.
The implied harmony in this famous work is unambiguous:

Movie 10.10  Adding secondary chords to make a strong chain-0f-fourths progression in “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”

Movie 10.11  Successive thirds outline the harmony in this excerpt from Haydn’s “Surprise” Symphony.

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Leaps of a fourth or a fifth or a seventh
can also be part of an outlined triadic
chord. This melody begins with a leap
of a fourth from C to F, signaling an
F major chord (remember the rule for
quick recognition of chords: if you see a
perfect fourth, the upper note is probably
the root of the chord). The last measure
has a leap of a seventh and also a leap
of a fifth, but both of these fit into a
C⁷ chord, which would be the V⁷ chord
for the key of F.

Nonharmonic Tones

It’s a little harder to see the chords in melodies that include notes that are not meant to be part of the harmony. Such notes are called nonharmonic tones Nonharmonic Tones Dissonant tones that are not part of the intended harmony (also known as
non-chord tones). In addition to providing harmonic interest, non-chord tones are often important melodically. Non-chord tones sometimes serve to smooth the connection between chords.

Nonharmonic tones usually move by step to a note that is part of a chord.
The various types of non-chord tones are identified by how they are approached, how they resolve and whether they are accented or unaccented.

Nonharmonic tones include the anticipation, the appoggiatura, the escape, the neighboring tone, the passing tone, the pedal point, and the suspension. , or non-chord tones Non-Chord Tones (See Nonharmonic tones.) . These will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 13, but for the moment it’s enough to know that nonharmonic tones usually move by step to a note that is part of the chord.

Nonharmonic tones that come in rhythmically strong positions – for example, on a metric accent or on the first part of a beat subdivision – are called accented nonharmonic tones. These always move by step to a chord tone, usually downward. Unaccented nonharmonic tones can be found moving either up or down, but will also generally move by a step to a note that is part of the chord. So if the movement of the melody is upward by step, the accented notes are probably part of the chord; if the movement is downward by step, the accented notes may or may not be part of the chord, as shown in Movie 10.13.

It helps in these ambiguous cases to know that most melodies have a slow harmonic rhythm: chords will generally change only twice a bar in 4/4 or even less often. When they do change, the change will almost always occur on the notes with the strongest metric accent: the first beat of the measure, or possibly also the third beat of a 4/4 measure and the first or second beats in a 6/8 measure.

Movie 10.12  A leap of a seventh is likely to outline an implied seventh chord

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In the example below the harmony changes twice, both times on the strongest beat of the bar. With a typically slow harmonic rhythm, a group of sixteenth notes or eighth notes moving stepwise must include some non-chord tones, since you won’t be able to change chords fast enough to agree with all of them. The last beat of the below could harmonize with a V chord (D major), which would make the two Gs (instead of A and F♯) into nonharmonic tones. However, following the principle of changing chords only when necessary and preferably on the strongest beats, the G major triad holds until the end of that bar and will change on the following downbeat.

Finally, it’s essential to know the typical chord progressions. The F sharp and D in measure two of the Clementi could be part of the
iii chord or the V, but your first guess should always be the stronger and more common progression, which in this case would be I-V. Also, you can look ahead and see that the following chord is again going to be I – and a I-V-I would make much more sense than I-iii-I.

Movie 10.13  Clementi, Rondo, op. 36. No 5
Recognizing harmony in a melody with nonharmonic tones (circled in red)

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It’s interesting that two of our three principles for melody writing are closely related: the rules of movement that make a melody easy to sing have the effect of making it easier to harmonize, too. The preference for stepwise motion and for leaps that outline triads naturally allows dissonance resolution and produces a slow harmonic rhythm. This can be illustrated by attempting to apply the same principles to harmonize the “unsuccessful” melody from Movie 10.4. The implied chords change frequently without making a very strong series. It would be hard to come up with a harmonization much better than this:

In short, melody and harmony are inseparable. The harmony grows from the melody and vice-versa; if either is poor, the result is likely to be poor. While the principles described above do not assure you greatness as a melodist, they may help you to avoid the worst errors.

Movie 10.14  Implied harmony in an awkward melody

Suggested Practica Musica Activities 10.2

• Shaping melody: This activity provides you with the rhythm of some well-known tunes and asks you to
make new melodies with the same rhythm.

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Review 10.3

4. To harmonize a melody, follow these principles:

• Look for triads outlined by the melody notes.

• Look for nonharmonic tones in the melody.
Since two notes a step apart cannot be part
of the same triad, one of them will be a nonharmonic tone (for this purpose sevenths,
too, are “nonharmonic tones”).

• Often two or more chords will harmonize equally well with the notes in a measure; use the chord
that makes the best progression from the previous harmony and to the following one.