This is because many people find it difficult to set words to music correctly, and they don't realise that their composition has to be structured and follow the "grammar rules" of music.
Whereas with the instrumental question, there is less to write and you are expected to adapt something, rather than think something up from scratch. In any case, you should practise both types of question before you take the exam. You will soon find out if one type of question is more difficult for you. Here's a little more information about each question type:.
It could be in treble clef or bass clef. The choice of instruments will be from different families, for example the violin and oboe, or the bassoon and cello. There is no wrong answer - choose the instrument you are most comfortable with. Compose a complete melody for unaccompanied violin or flute, using the given opening. Indicate the tempo and other performance directions, including any that might be particularly required for the instrument chosen.
The complete melody should be eight bars long. The instructions will ask you to write a complete melody for solo voice to fit the words of the text: you can choose whichever voice soprano, alto, tenor or bass you prefer. Compose a complete melody to the following words for a solo voice. Write each syllable under the note or notes to which it is to be sung.
Also indicate the tempo and other performance directions as appropriate. You might think that writing a melody without being able to hear it is impossible - but did you know that Beethoven wrote most of his great music when he was completely deaf?! Luckily, no one is asking you to write a 4-movement symphony - you only have to write a single melody line for 8 bars. But where do you start?
Every piece of music has two vital elements - rhythm and melody. On top of that, the harmonic structure of your composition will give shape to the melody, and should also be considered when composing.
Also important are performance directions , which are words or symbols that help the musician interpret the notes they are reading. Balance is also important: your melody should usually be 8 bars long, so you should break it down into two parts or "phrases", this is called binary form. The first phrase will be bars , and the second phrase will be bars If you like, you can then divide each phrase into 2, giving you four short 2-bar phrases.
We can call these four phrases 1a, 1b, 2a and 2b. Let's look at rhythm , melody , harmonic structure and performance directions in more detail. These examples are based on an 8-bar melody. If you choose the voice question, you can write it for as many bars as you think appropriate, but eight is an excellent choice, because it is the most balanced.
If you don't choose eight bars, then write it for four. Don't choose any other number! They each have a rhythmic phrase which is repeated to create phrase 1b. You shouldn't write your second phrase with exactly the same rhythm as the first because your composition will be too short , but it must be quite similar.
You can change the rhythm of phrase 1a in any number of ways; the important thing is not to change it too much! The same guidelines apply when you create phrases 2a and 2b - keep the rhythms similar, but make small changes, and make sure that phrase 2 is not identical to phrase 1. Nursery rhymes are a lexicon of balanced shapes, using repetition and variation in ideal forms. Nearly all have four lines, like most pop verses.
This creates lean structures with maximum impact and minimum embellishment. Perfect to get your song going. One of the best tricks in pop is to write nursery rhyme melodies over cool or heavy music. From choosing ethical licensing options to re-thinking your tour route, here are some ways you could cut down on waste and save energy. Switching your account. Search Close Search Search Search. Magazine expand. How to. How to Strong melodies rhyme Classical and pop melodies both use distinct metric repeat structures.
In songs that rely on repeated chord sequences, vary your melodic approach If your chords are not providing dynamics and contrasts, your melody has to. Writing a melody to a lyric is harder than writing a stand-alone melody If melody is the most important thing to you, write the tune first. Study great tunes — they are tutorials in plain sight Mozart, Tchaikovsky, JP Sousa, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, Leonard Bernstein, Burt Bacharach, John Williams all have great lessons to teach — balanced phrase construction, internal reflection of rhythmic patterns, and distinctive intervals jumps.
Not all top lines are melodies Solos and ad-libs excite us with their narrative qualities. How do you fix those problems? Here are a few tips that will help you reshape and update your melodies.
Experiment with these ideas; play around with them. Break up a series of similar lines into different lengths. If you have a melody with a lot of lines that are the same length, your song might might sound monotonous or unstructured to listeners.
Rewrite your chorus or verse melody to increase the contrast between sections. Try breaking up a long line into two shorter phrases or run two phrases together by adding extra notes and words. Change the note pitches. If your whole song is in the same note range, again, listeners might feel the song is wandering and monotonous.
Try these ideas:. Change the pattern of long and short notes.
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