Writing the Melodic Song

With rap and rap-rock so much on the pop charts, it sometimes seems like the melody can almost be forgotten in much of pop music. Learning to yell for an hour straight may be tough on many singers, though, so if you lean more towards something someone could whistle to, here are a few ideas to start you writing in a more melodic style.

YOU CAN ALWAYS START BY YELLING…

When I first hear an arrangement that the writer wants some melody and lyrics for, sometimes just speaking what you feel along with the tune is a good start. If you are lucky, they have a subject in mind, or better yet, some lyrics already, and they just want you to come up with a melody line. I love to have the lyrics written out, and as I was taught in speech class, I like to put little slashes above the syllables to let me know where the beats are, and try to mark out where there are quiet spots, cymbal crashes and other spots I might like to use to best effect, or where it would be best to sing or not sing so my melody could be heard best. It’s great if you have a cassette or CD of the song, or have it in your computer as a file, so you can stop/start/pause/rewind it as needed to help you get the best placement of your words. Or, if you are rehearsing live, just try to at least rap out your ideas in the correct places until you get a good idea of where the words would have the best effect. If it is an angry song, yell. If it is a sad song, cry or whine if that helps. If it is a happy song, laugh out the words or let your sense of joy come out as you speak the words…then the melody might almost write itself.

BE ANOTHER INSTRUMENT

Think in terms of what other instruments are playing, the genre you are writing in, and what other notes are going on around you as it is your time to come in. Just like the arranger, you need to come up with something that fits the chord they are using, blends or contrasts well with the other parts, and helps to promote the main theme of the lyric at that time, and the song as a whole. Try to keep the music in a range that is either easy for most to sing, or will show off the talents of the targeted singer the most. Hey, if that person has a 4-octave range—it can be really effective if you deliberately write the song’s melody so that it showcases the strongest part of that person’s range, yet touches notes at the person’s full range at a volume that is comfortable and makes them sound great. Take full advantage of the quiet spots in the music—when you can, try to sing there, so the music has a call-and-response effect, and get the timing perfect so that it showcases the talents of the artists performing the tune. It can be a lot of fun to sing where the lead guitarist isn’t playing, for example, so the vocals don’t get drowned out by loud guitar riffs, and the guitarist gets to show off those riffs without taking away from the words or sharing that attention with the singer. The same goes with nice loud drum parts—it is really just too much to expect most vocalists to be heard above loud drumming without feedback, so try to fit nice melodies in places where the drumming isn’t too loud, and try the yelling parts, if you decide to use them, during the loud sections where it may just be too hard for the singer to figure out what the notes are, because they can’t hear the other instruments clearly. Most singers can’t be melodic at really high volumes, so really loud parts of the song are better served by a more spoken style of singing, or, if you know the singers range, write the melody in notes that are the loudest, strongest part of that person’s range so they can sing the notes loud enough to be heard over the din. This way, you become another loud guitar or drum, yourself. A violin tends to screech if you aren’t careful when it is played loud, though—so if you tend to screech or the singer does during loud parts, try to write so that a style of that variety fits what you are writing—it could make a great angry song.

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