Melody Writing Dos and Don'ts (How to Write a Melody)

Here's a little thing I made that will hopefully help some folks write melodies! These are of course subjective and entirely based on my own experience as well as experiences that others have shared with me, so if something in here conflicts with your own experience then no sweat! Feel free to let me know!

[@ErnestoComposer]

100% singing the melody. It makes everything so much better, just naturally!

[@laurajhball]

I once legitimately composed a melody based off the contour of the trees on a horizon. Now that was fun.
(And I broke your rule about throwing note darts at the score once. I lucked out, thankfully!)
Great video. Love your sense of humor.

[@JordanMHollowayComposer]

That's so cool, I'll have to try that :D and hey, if the note darts work for you, then they work for you. I just find that I have a more frustrating time with that :-)
Thanks so much for the watch Laura, I really appreciate it!

[@vergohbeats]

This was helpful!

[@JordanMHollowayComposer]

Glad to hear it! :)

[@DMAlterman]

Really good suggestions in this video. I can tell that you are speaking from experience.

[@terra2ban]

Thanks!

[@SkrapProductionsLLC]

Great video! Already did most of the do's but also did one of the don'ts! Now I know better, so thanks. 🙂

[@JordanMHollowayComposer]

Cheers Chris! Thanks so much for watching and I’m glad it was helpful! Also if you find yourself wanting to deviate from the advice I’ve shared, it’s also worth considering that those things might just be what works for you :) these are just meant to be some guidelines for folks who are maybe feeling stuck.

[@edbuller4435]

ace video.

[@JordanMHollowayComposer]

Thanks a lot Ed!

[@DMAlterman]

I also checked out your music to see if your tips were used in your music. They were. You are very talented.

[@JordanMHollowayComposer]

Sorry for the late response, I really really appreciate that, you're very kind! :-)

[@jan-louisgens2998]

Nice video! What was the Melody which you used for the intro, that sounds great!

[@JordanMHollowayComposer]

Thank you!! It was from the finale of my saxophone sextet no. 1, which is also on this channel :)

[@LasseKarhu]

Good tips. Subscribed.
How do you know a succesful composer is around? You can hear the sound of hum-V. (Sorry.)

[@JordanMHollowayComposer]

Thank you so much for the sub and for that stellar remark ;)

[@yoavshati]

3:20
I actually found that this can work, but you can't rely on it for longer melodies
I generated (4-6) random notes from a scale and tried playing them in order with different rhythms, and slight alterations. It took me about 3 attempts to find something I can change to fit what I want
The point of using that random generation was just to kickstart my imagination, so I didn't try to preserve anything from the original generation

[@JordanMHollowayComposer]

Yeah it can definitely act as a sort of hook! But yes, as you say, it becomes more and more unreliable the longer the line gets. I do like that idea though; definitely good for melodic development technique! Thanks for your comment :-)

[@laurajhball]

What if your cat looks at you weird when you're singing out your melody? Because mine does, and I'm starting to feel self-conscious.

[@JordanMHollowayComposer]

Cannot advise; I am allergic to cats :(

[@brianlambert1049]

DAS ME!

[@ReinhartCoetsee]

Help my melody is so simple it’s just a single whole note

[@JordanMHollowayComposer]

Make the whole note the 7th above a major triad and then you have a really whole note ;)

[@gracestringfellow3262]

Video needs more knives.

[@gracestringfellow3262]

I mean, great!

[@JordanMHollowayComposer]

@@gracestringfellow3262 I know what you meant!!!!