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what is the meaning of melodic contour

by Bria Ferry Published 2 years ago Updated 1 year ago

According to Wikipedia, melodic contour is: "the quality of movement of a melody, including nearness or farness of successive pitches or notes in a melody. This may be described as conjunct or disjunct, stepwise or skipwise, respectively".

To discuss what makes melodies memorable and expressive, musicians use the concept of melodic contour, which is the sequence of motions between a melody's individual notes.Jan 6, 2022

Full Answer

How do you describe melodic contour?

Melody shape and melodic contour in music theory

  • The shape or contour of a melody. A melody that stays on the same pitch gets boring pretty quickly. ...
  • Melodic Phrases. Melodies are often described as being made up of phrases. ...
  • Motif. Another term that usually refers to a piece of melody (although it can also refer to a rhythm or a chord progression) is “motif”.
  • Melodies in counterpoint. ...
  • Themes. ...

What does melodic contour mean in music?

There are four basic types of melodic motion:

  • up by step
  • down by step
  • up by leap
  • down by leap

What does contour mean in music?

  • Jazz musicians use the melody line, called the “lead” or “head”, as a starting point for improvisation.
  • Indian classical music relies heavily on melody and rhythm, and not so much on harmony as the above forms.
  • Balinese gamelan music often uses complicated variations and alterations of a single melody played simultaneously, called heterophony.

What is the contour of a melody?

There are a number of ways to describe melody, including:

  • contour and shape
  • pitch intervals - the distance in sound between two pitches
  • pitch range - how high or low each note in a melodic line moves
  • tension and release - the ability of a melody to create emotional tension and resolution
  • cadence - the type of ending in a melodic line
  • motion

How do you write a melodic contour?

1:245:45Melodic Contour Examples - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipFor one thing you can't keep your whole song at that one note melody you've got to just change it upMoreFor one thing you can't keep your whole song at that one note melody you've got to just change it up section by section no matter what you do with production or instrumentation.

What are the three types of melodic contour?

Three melodic contours (ascending, stationary, descending) were adopted from Jeong and Ryu (2016) . Melodic contours are a series of tones moving in different directions (i.e., ascending, descending, and stationary). ...

What is melodic contour and intervals?

In this melody the contour begins with a leap upwards (disjunct motion), then a gradual descent using smaller intervals (conjunct motion) that finishes on the original pitch. Melodic contour is also important in the history of music notation.

What are the 5 melodic contour?

Each contour consists of five tones presented at different frequencies as follows: (1) 262, 392, 440, 494, and 523 Hz for an ascending contour, (2) repetition of a single tone of 392 Hz for a staying the same contour, and (3) 523, 349, 330, 294, and 262 Hz for a descending contour.Jun 13, 2016

What is the melodic contour of Gregorian chant?

Gregorian chants fall into two broad categories of melody: recitatives and free melodies. The simplest kind of melody is the liturgical recitative. Recitative melodies are dominated by a single pitch, called the reciting tone. Other pitches appear in melodic formulae for incipits, partial cadences, and full cadences.

What note is Do Re Mi?

Fixed do solfègeNote namePitch classEnglishRomanceDRe2D♯Re♯3E♭Mi♭318 more rows

What is melodic shape?

Melodic Shape: Line. The main characteristics of this shape are repeated notes or notes held for a long period of time, as in a pedal point high above or below the staff. An ostinato also falls into this shape classification. As the group of notes repeats itself over and over, a “line” shape is formed.

What is Melodic Contour?

Music is made with a combination of elements that when combined create enjoyable sounds. Among these elements of music, melody is among the most important. Melody is a sequence of individual, consecutive notes or musical pitches combined together in a particular order to create pleasing sounds and a complete musical thought.

Understanding Melodic Shape

Melodic shape can vary greatly depending on the combination of melodic motion taking place within a phrase or song. Musicians can use melodic shape to analyze the song in order to have a better performance. Musicians can also use melodic shape to improvise or change keys using the same melody.

What is the melodic contour?

According to Wikipedia, melodic contour is: "the quality of movement of a melody, including nearness or farness of successive pitches or notes in a melody. This may be described as conjunct or disjunct, stepwise or skipwise, respectively". Click to see full answer. Beside this, what is the contour of music?

What is contour in music?

Contour refers to the sequence of motions between notes of a melody. In other words, contour is a measurement of how a melody moves between individual notes. Likewise, what is a melodic range?

What does "melodic" mean in music?

Consequently, what does melodic mean in music? melodic. Melody is a quality of music defined as "tunefulness" or "a satisfying series of notes.". Music teachers play melodic patterns for their students to duplicate, and composers sometimes combine melodic phrases to form a symphony. The Greek root of melodic is melos, or "song.".

What is the contour of a melody?

1. Melodic contour is the direction of tones ascending and descending in a melody without regard to the rhythm of the actual notes. The general contour of the line is an important aspect of melody. For example, an 'arch-like' shape is common for many melodies where the line gradually rises hits a single highest not as a climax then gradually ...

Can you tell what the original melody is if you make a meter change?

Often the melodic identity is maintained if you make such a meter change (you can still tell what the original melody is) but the character of the melody can change. Comparing two similar melodies can be a tricky business especially if plagiarism is the concern.

What Is Melodic Contour?

Music is made up of several different elements, but one that we all recognize is melody. Melody refers to a musical idea built of individual, consecutive pitches. You also might think of it as a single musical line.

The Four Types of Melodic Motion

Music theorists examine a melody’s contour by looking at the motion between individual notes. When one note moves to another, it can either move up or down, and it can either move by step to an adjacent note or by leap to a note farther away.

Using and Analyzing Contour

Understanding melodies by their contour can be useful because reproducing the contour will reproduce the melody, even in different keys.

Examples

Let’s look at the contour of a great melody and see how it affects our perception of the music.

Lesson Summary

Melody is a musical gesture that is built of consecutive, individual pitches.

What is the shape of a melody?

The shape or contour of a melody. A melody that stays on the same pitch gets boring pretty quickly. As the melody progresses, the pitches may go up or down slowly or quickly. One can picture a line that goes up steeply when the melody suddenly jumps to a much higher note, or that goes down slowly when the melody gently falls.

What is the name of the layer of melody in classical music?

Classical music often has several melodic layers, called polyphony, such as those in a fugue, a type of counterpoint. Often melodies are constructed from motifs or short melodic fragments, such as the opening of Beethoven’s Ninth.

What are the melodic motions?

Melodies may also be described by their melodic motion or the pitches or the intervals between pitches (predominantly. conjunct or disjunct or with further restrictions), pitch range, tension and release, continuity and coherence, cadence, and shape.

What is a melody that is shorter than a phrase?

Another term that usually refers to a piece of melody (although it can also refer to a rhythm or a chord progression) is “motif”. A motif is a short musical idea – shorter than a phrase – that occurs often in a piece of music.

What is a leitmotif in music?

Richard Wagner popularized the concept of a leitmotif: a motif or melody associated with a certain idea, person or place. While in both most popular music and classical music of the common practice period pitch and duration are ...

What is the melody line?

First of all, the melodic line of a piece of music is the string of notes that make up the melody. Extra notes, such as trills and slides, that are not part of the main melodic line but are added to the melody either by the composer or the performer to make the melody more complex and interesting are called ornaments or embellishments.

What is the term for the alterations of a single melody in Balinese gamelan music?

Balinese gamelan music often uses complicated variations and alterations of a single melody played simultaneously, called heterophony. “The continuity and diegetic function of almost all vocal melody draw us along the linear thread of the song’s syntagmatic.

What is a wavelike contour?

Wavelike describes melodic. contour. Click to see full answer. In this manner, what is the meaning of melodic contour? According to Wikipedia, melodic contour is: "the quality of movement of a melody, including nearness or farness of successive pitches or notes in a melody.

What is contour map?

A contour map is a map illustrated with contour lines, for example a topographic map, which thus shows valleys and hills, and the steepness or gentleness of slopes. Moreover, what is the contour of a song? Contour refers to the sequence of motions between notes of a melody.

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