Melody

[Dr. Dread]

Glass did a Bowie symphony. Maybe he should have done a Beatles symphony. 

[karlhenning]

I ain't Dave

but 4 of them are on

System here blocks the image. So, which album? 

[arkiv]

What's a good recording?

I don't have recordings, I check online videos.
This is light classical:

http://www.youtube.com/v/7QuDEx3_Ygo

[Franco]

The kernel of truth beneath all that noise, is that with many great melodies, the greatness is in the melody's intersection with other musical dimensions.  Take a point of imitation from a Tallis motet, pick it out from that contrapuntal environment, and employ it as a monody against strumming chords, and maybe, as a melody, it's not so hot.  Take a Bach fugue subject, and even though it starts out with a strong profile, the demands of the fugal texture affect the subject 'as a melody' . . . it isn't composed with an ending, but it spins out in noodling to prepare for the next entrance of (the start of) the subject.  In either case, the quality of the melody's 'construction' is partly determined by the musical context.

One of my points here, is that this isn't the Whole Picture for melody, that in fact there is a rich vein of the literature which is melody all on its own, so to speak, in the body of plainchant.  And that on eway for a composer to test his ability to compose a melody, is to write a plainchant. To a disinterested listener, the plainchant is "boring," because there isn't anything "going on" apart from the melody . . . so, one might also say that plainchant is a good test of a listener's abilities (heck, if you cannot listen, focused, to a single unaccompanied line, how can you focus on any complicated texture, eh?)

I suppose that judging a melody is about as subjective as it gets.  Hindemith had his rules for writing melodies, as have others, but really it all comes down to what strikes an individual listener as memorable, moving, beautiful, and these are not objective, imo.

For myself, I reject the notion that the best melodies are only found among the works of the Western Classical Music Canon and that a melody from a popular song can never equal one from Schubert, or Puccini, Tchaikovsky ...

The thing about pop songs, is that I find it is the combination of the words and melody which creates a piquant emotional effect and may cause the melody to seem more effective than it might be if heard instrumentally, sans lyrics.

One melody I find extremely beautiful and moving is one William Walton wrote for his score from the film of Henry V, Kiss her Soft Lips

[Dr. Dread]

I suppose that judging a melody is about as subjective as it gets.  Hindemith had his rules for writing melodies, as have others, but really it all comes down to what strikes an individual listener as memorable, moving, beautiful, and these are not objective, imo.

For myself, I reject the notion that the best melodies are only found among the works of the Western Classical Music Canon and that a melody from a popular song can never equal one from Schubert, or Puccini, Tchaikovsky ...

The thing about pop songs, is that I find it is the combination of the words and melody which creates a piquant emotional effect and may cause the melody to seem more effective than it might be if heard instrumentally, sans lyrics.

One melody I find extremely beautiful and moving is one William Walton wrote for his score from the film of Henry V, Kiss her Soft Lips

Thanks, Franco. I'll have to pull that one up and see if I agree.

[Dr. Dread]

System here blocks the image. So, which album? 

Blood On the Tracks

[Dr. Dread]

I don't have recordings, I check online videos.
This is light classical:

http://www.youtube.com/v/7QuDEx3_Ygo

I'll check it out later.

[Franco]

I got the Walton title a bit wrong - it is Touch her Soft Lips and Part -  and here is a YouTube clip featuring it.

[Ten thumbs]

Whilst the modern popular song has produced many good melodies the medium is somewhat hamstrung by the need to be dance music. There is therefore a tendency to have answering eight bar phrases. With the use of phrase contraction and extension, melismas etc it is possible to create a much more potent emotional atmosphere. Indeed these devices are essential if one is to set most modern poetry rather than 'lyrics'.

[karlhenning]

Whilst the modern popular song has produced many good melodies the medium is somewhat hamstrung by the need to be dance music.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone dance to "Hey, Jude."

(Just saying.)

[karlhenning]

Ravel's Boléro . . . there is one magnifique melody.

[Dr. Dread]

Ravel's Boléro . . . there is one magnifique melody.

How does that go again? And again? And again?

[karlhenning]

Blood On the Tracks

Hey, Dave! You're MCM, now!  

I don't think I've ever heard that album.  Looking at the tracklist, I don't recognize any of the songs.  (Merely recusing myself from the question.)

[karlhenning]

How does that go again? And again? And again?

It's memorable enough that it sticks in your mind . . . and subtle enough, I defy you to sing it straight through from memory.

. . . and there, again, is another part of the riddle of melodies.  (I'll use that for a title: The Riddle of Melodies.)

[karlhenning]

Of course, you're MCMI, now . . . .

[Dr. Dread]

Of course, you're MCMI, now . . . .

You Romans and your funky numbers. Er...letters...

[Ten thumbs]

I don't think I've ever seen anyone dance to "Hey, Jude."

(Just saying.)

True but I'm generalizing.

[Harpo]

Back to basics.
Definition time: Melody is
•   tune: a succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence
•   the perception of pleasant arrangements of musical notes

How do you identify a "melody?" 
And how do you define "beautiful melody"—isn't that subjective as well as cultural?
Does every musical piece have a melody?

[arkiv]

A group of 2 drums with indefinite pitch and 3 different sounds each one, in a polyrhythmic work, can project an interesting melody?
I think yes.

[bwv 1080]

I don't have recordings, I check online videos.
This is light classical:

http://www.youtube.com/v/7QuDEx3_Ygo

Why do you call this "light" classical?  Its a standard raag form.  The tanpura is electronic, but that does not matter.