What role does melody play in 2020???

[YoungCapone]

(Instrumental melodies, not vocal melodies)
A lot of people say that melody is dead, but I disagree…. I think what we emphasize in melody has just evolved... I feel like the timbre/design of the sound playing the melody makes a bigger impact on how a melody is perceived than the actual sequence of pitch and rhythm that makes up the melody. What do you guys think??? How important is the sequence of notes in a melody compared to the quality of sound used?
It also seems like melodies are used less as the focal point of songs, but used as less emphasized elements that add character to a song, especially in hip hop. Once the drums and bass come in, it’s sometimes hard to even hear the melodic elements of the instrumental.
I guess what I’m asking is what power does melody, regardless of timbre, play in music today (In your opinion)??
I'm asking, because I’m trying to gauge how much time I should put into understanding how to create melodies based on scales, chords etc… If it only has minimal importance I’d obviously rather spend my time on more important things.

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

(Instrumental melodies, not vocal melodies)
A lot of people say that melody is dead,
It also seems like melodies are used less as the focal point of songs, but used as less emphasized elements that add character to a song, especially in hip hop.

It is waiting for Rap and hip hop to be over. It aint dead.

 

[rob aylestone]

You can hum a tune. Music, even good music that doesn't either have a tune, or make you produce one yourself, can't be passed on. If you need shazam to identify a piece of music because you cannot communicate it, it's a secondary product. Not bad, note - as music for video often uses the lack of melody to prevent people remembering or highlighting it. However, the list of heavyweight sellers/streams that don't have a tune are very, very few. Most rap songs actually have a structure that lets you believe there's a tune. Most have memorable features that sort of work as tunes - the little hooks or repeated motifs.

 

[miroslav]

'm asking...

Well...you keep starting threads and asking a lot of stuff...but how about you actually take part in some conversation, in the threads you start.

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

Hey, yeah. Conversate.

Like are you playing some game? Cause there are gamers out there. You know, I playing this mean one called Cancer. Got it when I was 35. It has these killer rulez. So if your playing games, tell me the rulez. I wanna play. I will of coarse have you play by Cancer rulez I have to play by. Game on. Or lie, or whatever. Put it on the line.

 

[grimtraveller]

(Instrumental melodies, not vocal melodies)
I feel like......What do you guys think??? How important is .......I guess what I’m asking is .......I'm asking, because I’m........I’d obviously rather spend my time on more important things

Come and get involved in the conversations you're trying to start. The thing is, most of the questions you've been asking are truly debate~worthy and could go quite far but I'm not bothering to write a long treatise with lots of thought behind it if you're not even going to take part in what you start. I have a lot of thoughts on melody, particularly instrumental melody but I'm going to remain suitably mysterious for now.
The ball is in your court.

 

[YoungCapone]

Sorry, I'll try to be more involved! I keep thinking the notifications for this forum will be in my email so I don't see them! I would love to hear your thoughts soon

---------- Update ----------

Good point. I'll try to keep up with my posts better. Thanks for the repsonse.

 

[grimtraveller]

Try checking in each day. I never bother with the notifications.
Thanks for actually replying. You do actually pose some interesting questions.

 

[hautbois16]

I know that I will be considered as "old-fashioned" or - by some at least - "old fogy"; but I consider the melody as the seed for the hook of a song. In my opinion, the melody is somewhat like a "key" by which a song can be identified. If there is no melody, then you have only a group of chords and/or a rhythmic pattern. Perhaps we could say that the melody serves as the unifying element - the item which ties everything in the piece together. As an example drawn from another post on this board (the one saying that the person was having trouble with a guitar track), I listened to that track and the one posted by the person who did some EQ to help the sound of the track; it is an interesting track, but in my mind, at least, there is no "hook" which would keep the track in my mind and want to hear it repeatedly. A melody would have given the track more "identity" and "individuality."

 

[Chili]

Sorry, I'll try to be more involved! I keep thinking the notifications for this forum will be in my email so I don't see them! I would love to hear your thoughts soon

You have your thread subscriptions turned off. Go to your control panel (Upper right corner> Settings) and turn on subscriptions.

 

[grimtraveller]

What role does melody play in 2020 (Instrumental melodies, not vocal melodies) ?

I'd say it plays pretty much the same role that it did when people first started making musical instruments that did what previously the human voice did. It may have been as little as a week after the first person actually made music.
If a melody is defined as "a rhythmical succession of single tones producing a distinct musical phrase or idea" then it's more or less impossible for it not to play a role in 2020 or any other year.
In saying that, there certainly seem to have been times when what would generally be considered as "pleasing" musical phrases/ideas/tunes {ie, melodies} haven't been as prevalent or desired as at other times. But much of that has been down to specific artists within particular genres. It would be hard to find identifiable melodies in much of free jazz or avant-garde music but according to any definition I've come across, they would be there, even if it just sounds like a load of awful noise that one wouldn't want to hear twice. Along with things like harmony, rhythm, pitch and time, melody is one of the building blocks of "music."

 

[grimtraveller]

A lot of people say that melody is dead

Those people that say that melody is dead, I somehow doubt that they are referring to the melodies that musical instruments play. That seems to me to be speaking of vocal melodies. Riffs, repeated licks, some of the parts bass players come up with ~ these are melodies. In heavy rock, there's a kind of melody in the straight chording. In some punk there's melody of a kind in the music that supports the sometime unmelodic vocal parts. Funk may glorify the groove but there's a melodicism in the bass playing that has never departed, despite splintering in different directions. Melody is in pretty much every genre. It's all over the place, even if some artists aren't going out of their way to produce it.
Granted, melodies don't always immediately grab the ear when they're not being sung, but they're not dead, just hiding in plain sight.

 

[grimtraveller]

I feel like the timbre/design of the sound playing the melody makes a bigger impact on how a melody is perceived than the actual sequence of pitch and rhythm that makes up the melody

At the risk of sounding like Wishee Washee, I'm going to go with sometimes yes and sometimes no. I mean, there are some melodic parts in some songs that are so delicious that no matter what instrument is playing it, it's gorgeous. But you'd have to be specific about which genres and which specific songs you are talking about because "songs" is far too wide scoped a word for there to be a universal understanding of what you mean in particular. I could mention literally thousands of songs that don't conform to your point ~ and thousands that do. And some that do both at different points within the song.
There are without a doubt many, many songs that have superb instrumental melodies in them but the way the particular instrumentalist plays, they are not jumping out. But that could be that that is the way the particular part is arranged or the way the mix engineer has chosen to mix it. A beefy instrument part played with power, panache and purpose by an uncompromising player can still be relegated to a support role that is hardly perceived if that's how the engineer has decided the piece is to be perceived.

 

[grimtraveller]

How important is the sequence of notes in a melody compared to the quality of sound used?

Well, if you put a gun to my kneecap and told me to choose, then it would be the sequence of notes simply because any song can have its parts played by any instrument, right ?
But life and music is not as straightforwardly cut and dried as that. I generally have an idea of the instrument I want playing a particular part. OK, there have been a number of times when I've earmarked, say, a saxophone for a part but on a whim I've gone for an organ or a sitar or flute or whatever instead and I've gotten away with it. Or thought of a dual guitar part then decided to go with a mandolin instead of one of the guitars. Or used a double bass instead of a bass guitar etc. And at other times just gone for a straight ahead off the wall instrument like a thumb piano. It's only by listening to it in context that I'll know if it has worked. But sometimes, one wants the particular characteristics of a specific instrument to carry a melody although there's no guarantee it'll work out as one thought.
Everything is dependent on the song.
And drummy type percussion or stuff that you hit or shake can play their own melodies. In fact, drums often do play little melodies, especially if the drummer has even in the most basic way tuned their drums. One of my favourite percussion melodies is played on the wood blocks on Melanie's "Good Guys." Although the song has a sumptuous vocal melody and lovely guitar, those wood blocks are insane and are indispensable in the song. Putting bongos, tablas and congas in the same song can drive some interesting percussive melodies.
That kind of thing in music hasn't disappeared in 2020 but it depends on the kind of music one listens to.

 

[grimtraveller]

It also seems like melodies are used less as the focal point of songs, but used as less emphasized elements that add character to a song, especially in hip hop. Once the drums and bass come in, it’s sometimes hard to even hear the melodic elements of the instrumental.

If my past experiences are anything to go by, this is as much a mixing issue as anything. There's just something about the soupy thickness of a bass guitar that can obliterate certain other instruments in the mix unless it is deliberately affected {or should that be effected ?} and thinned out a bit. But it, of course, depends on the instruments in question. I used to find that if I had acoustic guitars playing delightful chord sequences, once the bass and drums were added, they would really obscure what was going on there, in a way that a piano or even an organ would not. It can even be hard to hear the fullness of what's happening melodically with various instruments once the bass is added, in headphones. Whereas the drums or double bass don't seem to do this as much.
But when an instrument or two are a melodic focus, it's really how one mixes that song that determines to what extent their focus is brought out.
I find that within all genres, some songs utilize the melody of an instrument as a focal point and some don't. And that's the thing, it's not hard and fast. As I was saying before, it's not helpful to speak in such general terms on a subject as fundamental to musical composition as melody. On the one hand, the "I just want to rock the $**+ out" brigade and the "I can't sing well and I couldn't be arsed to work at it" troupe have often given the impression that not only is melody undesirable, but an actual impediment to vital, fresh, exciting music while on the other, the "vocal melody is king and everything else is subordinate" gang have so often ignored the value of not just other elements that make up music, but the actual melodic power of a range of certain instruments. Many songs have one or two note melodies and almost the entire melodic power is provided by the intermeshing of what those instruments are doing. Mind you, not being the focus isn't a code word for "worthless and unnecessary." In fact, not being the focus for me is a strength.

I'm asking, because I’m trying to gauge how much time I should put into understanding how to create melodies based on scales, chords etc… If it only has minimal importance I’d obviously rather spend my time on more important things.

I found this an interesting yet odd point. No one can really answer this for you. Sometimes, knowing scales and chords will be of great value but that doesn't at all guarantee that you will come up with cool melodies. They might be boring and predictable as a presidential or prime ministerial press conference. And who determines whether instrumental melody carries only minimal importance ? This is one of those areas where only you can drive the car.
I find that if I exercise patience, I will come up with both vocal and instrumental melodies. I quite like the interweaving of different melodies and harmonies. Of course, it doesn't always work but that's songwriting. I don't go out of my way to listen to current music so I don't really care whether instrumental melody is viewed as non essential. There are so many ways to approach music and they all pretty much have their validity.