{"id":4704,"date":"2018-03-30T11:20:08","date_gmt":"2018-03-30T15:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/?p=4704"},"modified":"2025-06-20T12:47:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T16:47:26","slug":"how-to-develop-a-melody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/how-to-develop-a-melody\/","title":{"rendered":"How to develop a melody"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you ever sit down to create a piece of music, only to find yourself staring at an empty session and not knowing how to start?<\/h1>\n

Building off of a solid melody would be a great way to fuel your creativity, but sometimes the desire to write something unique yet memorable can freeze us up. This blog post introduces a concrete method that you can use to craft a great melody. You\u2019ll find that you may have used this technique intuitively before, without even realizing it – by consciously recognizing it as a tool, however, we become empowered to proactively overcome any creative block.<\/p>\n

In celebration of Atlanta Trap week, we\u2019ll be developing a trap melody as our example.<\/p>\n

1. Starting with a versatile motif<\/h2>\n

If we want to write a memorable melody, it\u2019s important to incorporate some degree of repetition so that an idea sticks inside the listener\u2019s head. When every element of a melody has no relation to what came before it, the music becomes random and the listener will struggle to find something to latch on to. For this reason, a good way to start composing a melody is by coming up with a motif<\/strong>. In music, a motif refers to a recurring figure that serves as the foundation of a larger idea. Short and simple is the key – we\u2019ll be elaborating on the motif to make the melody more intricate, so we want it to be a versatile building block.<\/p>\n

If coming up with a motif in a totally empty session is difficult, laying down a basic backing track might be helpful. I\u2019ve done so using a few Splice samples, and came up with a motif that feels like it has some potential using Xfer Records’ Serum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a listen to what the track sounds like with the motif on loop.<\/a><\/p>\n

As you can hear, the motif quickly gets repetitive if it isn\u2019t varied whatsoever. However, it\u2019s undeniably a good starting point – the motif effectively captures the overall mood of the music using just three notes (G, Ab, and F):<\/p>\n

\"how-to-develop-a-melody-01\"<\/p>\n

The Ab is what makes this motif tick – in the track\u2019s key of G minor, we expect to hear an A natural as our second scale degree. Flattening the A natural to an Ab gives the motif a darker feel that goes perfectly with the mood of the track. If we wanted to get nerdy about it, we could say we\u2019ve used mode mixture<\/strong> to borrow the flat second from the phrygian mode<\/a> – check out this post if you want to learn more on mode mixture.<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Applying rhythmic variation<\/h2>\n

Now that we have a motif, our next step is to change it up in its repetitions. We might be inclined to immediately start altering the pitches, but simply switching up the rhythm can be an easy and powerful way of creating interest.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see if solely working with rhythm can produce an interesting result.<\/p>\n

As we can see from the MIDI roll below, we\u2019re still only using the pitches G, Ab, and F. Even the order of the pitches in the melody hasn\u2019t changed. However, the music immediately becomes way more engaging just from the added layer of rhythmic variation.<\/p>\n

\"how-to-develop-a-melody-02\"<\/p>\n

3. Applying (some) melodic variation<\/h2>\n

Finally, let\u2019s do what we\u2019ve probably been itching to do – change up the pitches in the melody. It\u2019s easy to get a little carried away here, so we have to be mindful of balancing a controlled amount of variation with an adherence to the motif\u2019s essence. I\u2019ve expanded the melody into eight bars by applying subtle changes to each repetition of the motif – a two-beat fill is added every four bars to break things up, and the melody briefly jumps up an octave towards the end for dramatic effect:<\/p>\n

\"how-to-develop-a-melody-03\"<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s double the melody with a lower octave to thicken it up and take a listen to the final result.<\/p>\n

The big picture<\/h1>\n

Is there a single formula for devising \u2018the perfect melody?’ Do all \u2018good melodies\u2019 fit into the mold of rhythmic and melodic variation on a motif? The simple answer to these questions is no. The melody created here is nothing but an example, and I\u2019m not claiming that it\u2019s objectively perfect or even good – that\u2019s for you to decide. However, what\u2019s for certain is that iterating on a motif provides an actionable and effective framework for creating melodies that resonate with both the veteran musician and the average listener. After all, the technique of developing a motif can be heard all over works spanning Beethoven\u2019s Fifth Symphony<\/a> to The Chainsmokers’ “Closer,”<\/a> so there\u2019s no reason you shouldn\u2019t give it a try, too.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Spark inspiration for your music with expertly-curated loops, one-shots, MIDI, presets, and more:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
Join Splice today<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever found yourself just staring at an empty session? Proactively overcome any creative block with this actionable approach to developing a melody.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":4708,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1699,1696],"tags":[1638,18,1633,641,1428],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to develop a melody - Blog | Splice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Have you ever found yourself staring at an empty session and not knowing how to start? 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