When you listen to any musical composition, you’ll hear two components played consistently: the melody and the harmony.
Although both components often play simultaneously, they provide different structures for the composition.
This guide will show you how melody and harmony are different, take you through the various themes found in music, and how to recognize these structures in complex pieces.
Melody vs. Harmony
A melody is a musical composition that has enough definition to stand alone as a comprehensive piece. It’s a memorable sequence of different pitches. Harmony adds supporting notes to the melody to add context or framework to it, like telling a story.
Think about your favorite song. When the music starts playing in your thoughts, you can almost picture the melody as it plays.
You might even hear some of the notes through the memories you have of that song.
It doesn’t need to be the note sequences from the verse to qualify as the melody.
You might remember the guitar riff that the artist uses as a hook, the chorus’s energy, or a bridge transition between one part of the song to another.
All of those elements qualify as the melody.
We can even picture melodies together by reading a text like this post. Imagine a popular song like “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” If I write out the lyrics, you’ll likely hear them play in your thoughts while reading.
Let’s give it a try!
“Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb.
Mary had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow.”
Every song that is part of the public domain becomes a shareable experience because most of the population knows the composition. Here’s another example.
“Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.”
Melodies are memorable because they are the note sequences that produce unique patterns. Once we learn the language of those notes, we can add lyrics to the piece to create a song.
Composers can also enhance the melody by adding harmony to it.
How to Write a Memorable Melody in Modern Music
If you want someone to remember your music, you must either create a memorable melody or develop an incredible hook.
This note sequence might consist of a single phrase or measure. All it takes is a few short notes to produce something memorable.
If you want to include more complicated musical ideas, an elaborate melody can create drama and intrigue. You don’t even need to have lyrics to produce that result!
When you listen to Brahms or Beethoven’s music, you can hear how a memorable melody can develop emotions without ever having a word said.
A melody consists of two components: duration and pitch.
Each note vibrates at a specific frequency. That’s why it sounds high or low.
The sound waves tend to stretch out and get slower as the Hz dips into the single digits, creating the bass sounds that sound impressive through subwoofers.
You can also hear notes at higher frequencies to add brightness and energy to a composition.
As for duration, a composer can script how long an instrument plays each specific note. If the piece is written in 4-4 time, you’d have four quarter-note beats to serve as the foundation.
That means a whole note would be held for all four beats. If there were an eighth note, it would play on every half-beat instead.
Here is how you can start writing a better melody today.
1. Follow the natural chord progression.
Most musicians start their compositional process by improvising on different chord changes that sound appealing.
Once you play around with those different sequences, you can find something that feels like it is part of a song.
2. Implement a scale.
Musicians can develop melodies by combing them into different major or minor scales.
If you don’t mind pursuing something creative, you could try an altered or dominant scale to get the results you want for the composition.
3. Compose with a plan.
Although it feels like freedom when you write music without a plan or outline, it can also turn a fantastic idea for a melody into a terrible one.
Most musicians find that better compositions come from holistic thinking. Instead of trying the verse melody, start with the chorus.
You might think about adding a pre-verse melody, one before the chorus, or have a unique bridge or solo.
You can even put melodies into the song’s intro that don’t get repeated anywhere else in the piece. That’s why it can be a lot of fun to write music!
4. Each melody requires a focal point.
Melodic focal points are high notes that the line touches once within a song section. If it is for a vocalist, the tone should be at the highest end of the artist’s range.
When you use it for a non-vocal instrument, it should be something within the musician’s skill.
If you want to try something different, you could put the lowest note of the melody as the focal point instead.
5. Use more steps than leaps.
Most melodies follow a staircase-style motion with their progressions. You’ll alter the lines a little, going a semitone (half-step) up in most situations. If you want to be brave, add a few whole steps into the arrangement.
Once you’ve got a comfortable sequence, consider mixing in a few leaps of two whole tones to add more variety.
6. Change the repetitive phrases.
When it feels like your melodic phrases are coming up a little short, it can help to repeat the expression a second time.
You can avoid having the listener feel bored with this technique by creating a few alterations to the original line.
You could add some syncopation, change a few rhythms, or push the sequence to a lower or higher octave to achieve variation.
7. Start experimenting with counterpoints.
Instead of writing a single melody over chord progression harmonies, consider using a second melody to serve as the harmony instead.
When you weave two melodies together, you’ll create different movements that feel intriguing to the listener. Each one can produce various emotions that feel quite satisfying when they unify.
Let’s go back to the idea of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” as an example of this melodic style. In the modern version of this song, you might hear four different parts singing it: soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone or bass.
Each group starts after the first line. That means the sopranos are ending the round while the baritones or basses are just beginning.
When you sing it through a few times, the four-part harmony creates an intensely satisfying experience. It’s also fun to hear each part handle the melody by themselves!
Once you sing the round, imagine everyone singing the song at the same time. That’s how you add different counterpoints to your songs.
8. Write without thinking about instruments.
It helps to put the melody into your mind without playing an instrument or singing a song.
If you have a few lyrics, consider singing them into a recorder app to hear how they sound. It could help you find more creative moments or get past those blocks that are interrupting your music.
9. Think about your favorite artists.
Although you don’t want to borrow a melody line or hook from an inspirational artist (just as Vanilla Ice!), you can let their work inspire your melodies.
Try taking the time to analyze your favorite songs. What is it about the composition that makes you want to keep listening?
After hearing the various leaps, scales, and patterns, consider how you could accomplish something similar in your style.
Three Types of Common Melodies Exist
When you listen to a melody in today’s music, you’ll find that composers use three typical options.
| Chord-Based Melodies | • This option involves a series of chord changes that build the foundational repetition that occurs within a melody. • Once this structure is in place, different tones work to create chord variations for the listener’s enjoyment. |
| Scale-Based Melodies | • With this melodic option, the composer uses only the notes from a specific scale. • It can be major or minor, which means the musician must look at the key to determine what to play. • Most have seven notes that are used for this purpose, although some minor scales have a few more. • A pentatonic scale uses five, which is what you often see in today’s Top 40 songs. |
| Monotone Melodies | • A melody doesn’t need to have tone variation to create a memorable experience. • If you listen to EDM songs, especially dubstep, you’ll hear the same note played repetitively. • What turns it into a melodic addition is the duration variation that occurs. • Even if there are zero pitched sounds above the monotone, it can serve as part of the melody. |
What Is Harmony in Music?
When a song has harmony, it contains a composite product where individual voices become part of a cohesive performance.
The easiest way to define harmony is to describe a chord. If you were to play a G-Major on a piano, the root position for your fingers would be on the G, B, and D notes for the first inversion.
When you play Gmaj, the name of the chord is the bottom note played in it. You could play the melody with only the G, but the added B and D add character, definition, and foundations to the composition.
The only problem with that harmony definition is that it isn’t always correct. If the song uses the entire chord for the melody, then the Gmaj requires additional notes to produce the desired harmonic effect.
It helps to think about harmony from the perspective of an orchestra or symphony. If you have multiple instruments playing simultaneously, the violin, trombone, clarinet, and flute might all be playing different notes.
Although the individual parts are musical, it isn’t until they get heard together that the harmony for the composition becomes a living thing.
■ How Does Harmony Get Represented in Music?
Most harmonies get analyzed as a chord series within a composition.
If we return to the orchestra example, you might hear one instrument play a high A, another the C-sharp, the trombone on the F-sharp, and the clarinet potentially playing one, two, or three of the notes in an extended phrase.
Although each instrument plays a single note, the listener hears the F# minor chord in the composition.
A composer could also deliver the same harmonic result with different sounds using only one instrument.
If you have nine trumpeters in the orchestra, the composition could have three play the high A, three more deliver the C#, and the others on the F# to create the same chord.
Although the notes are the same, the tenor and tone from the trumpets would deliver a different listening experience than the violin, trombone, and other instruments.
When you hear these chords, you’ll find three primary types used.
| Consonant Chords | • When all of the instruments in an ensemble, orchestra, or symphony play notes that fit within the same chord, it delivers this harmonic representation. |
| Dissonant Chords• If players use a melodic line that doesn’t fit with the rest of the set chords, it qualifies as this harmonic composition. • It would be like having a trumpet play a B-flat while everyone else uses Dmaj on a specific beat. | |
| Atonal Chords | • Some composers like to put together chords outside of the traditional sequence. • Instead of allowing the pre-dominant chord to pull the dominant one, which, in turn, stretches to the tonic, they might adjust the functionality to meet other specific outcomes. |
What is unique about music is that the melody and harmony can be creative, inventive, or traditional. With an atonal chord, you have a non-functional harmony without a tonal center.
It’s probably not diatonic either, which means you won’t be in any single key.
We know that some combinations work better than others, but that doesn’t mean a composer can’t try changing things up to see if something sounds better.
What if the B-flat wanted to be heard over the F#? Although it wouldn’t be entirely pleasing to hear it for most listeners, it could still produce a specific result for the composition.
An example of a non-functional harmony might be to switch between the Em7 and Dm7.
■ How Is Harmony Used in Music?
You can find harmony in music in several different ways. The most common option in western compositions is to have the items entirely scripted by the composer.
It is also possible to outline the harmony so that the musicians can express themselves individually while staying true to the piece’s intent.
That option is referred to as “implied harmony.” It allows the listeners to fill in the gaps with what is missing while the musicians play incomplete chords.
A dominant chord uses four pitches: the dominant seventh, the fifth, the major third, and the root. An example is a G7 chord, which uses the F, D, B, and G to produce a specific harmony inclusion.
If a composer were to remove one of the middle options, the listener would likely still “hear” the harmony because the mind expects to have it there.
■ What Are the Three Popular Harmony Types in Music?
If you think about the English language, it offers infinite customization because you can make up different words or phrases.
Even if you say something that isn’t a proper word, the other individual might still understand what you’re speaking about at that time.
Here’s a real-life example that happened to me a few years ago. I was sitting on the couch talking with a friend about some of our favorite songs.
We got to the point where we were discussing the title and artist of some cover hits. Here are some of the songs that we eventually settled on as being the best.
- Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.” It was originally performed by Dolly Parton in 1973.
- Pet Shop Boys and “Always on My Mind.” It was originally performed by Elvis and Willie Nelson, but you can’t beat the pop-dance style.
- Johnny Cash’s “Hurt.” He covered the Nine Inch Nails song in 2002, just a year before he passed away. The video is an incredible testament to the artist’s life and skills.
- Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” What is remarkable about this song was that it was originally written to be from the male perspective. It was performed in 1979 by Robert Hazard.
As we were in the middle of the discussion, my friend started arguing about how Johnny Cash fit into the debate.
“Isn’t the tartist of ‘Hurt’ Nine Inch Nails?” I remember nodding. “And they recorded that in what, 1994 – maybe 1995?”
People looked at us funny for a moment. We did the same, wondering why everyone was confused. Finally, someone came up and asked, “What is a tartist?”
For the record, “tartist” equals “title + artist.”
Although there is infinite customization, we only use three popular harmony types in western music today.
| Diatonic Harmony | • This harmony choice occurs when all of the chords and notes can trace themselves back to a master scale. • That means all of them must come from the seven notes within the specific key. • If the composition were written in A-flat Major, you could only use that list. • This option is found in everything from Top 40 hits to Greek instrumentals. |
| Non-Diatonic Harmony | • When composers use this option for the harmony, it introduces notes outside the seven-sequence scale. • You see it in jazz often, but it’s found in all music forms. • It adds edginess to the piece, but it can also become the hook when it’s done right. • If you think about the music from Bach, what you often remember are these harmonies. |
| Atonal Harmony | • If this option is included in a composition, the harmony doesn’t receive a tonal center. • It doesn’t have an identifiable root because the sequences aren’t built on major or minor scales. It was made popular by Arnold Schoenberg, who enjoyed using 12 tones instead of the regular seven in his compositions. |
All music with a melody contains harmony. Even if it is a single instrument playing a melodic line, the implied foundations remain for the listener to enjoy.
When melody and harmony get added to a composition’s rhythm, you’ll have the three elements that we’ve all enjoy with music since the beginning of recorded civilization.
Music Theory Myths About Melody and Harmony
When you start thinking about creating music at home, you’ll hear numerous opinions about the equipment you should get or the way you should compose your ideas.
The only problem with that advice is that three prevailing music theory myths typically govern it. You might even believe some of these yourself!
Here’s a look at the myth – and what the truth is instead.
■ Myth #1: You can understand how music works without context.
I’ve talked about several intermediate and advanced inclusions for melody and harmony in this post. If you know something about seventh chords or triads, you only understand how those concepts work.
These ideas alone are not enough to teach you music’s language. That’s why it is better to avoid ear-training tools because each chord has a harmonic meaning that works with sequences, scales, and more.
You can study harmony and melody without understanding the music theory concepts that drive their creation.
■ Myth #2: It is challenging to unlock music’s secrets of melody and harmony.
If there’s one truth about people, it is this: humanity perpetuates “alternative facts” to prevent competition.
When I say it is impossible to create a meaningful original melody unless you earn a graduate degree in musical composition, the goal isn’t to inform.
It is to stop you from creating something that might be better than what I’m making.
When you think about melody and harmony, the essentials you need to get started are in this guide.
Instead of taking an authoritarian approach, consider experimenting with different techniques to see how they work for you.
■ Myth #3: Only specific chord configurations work for music.
This myth is so far from the truth that it would eventually fall off of a flat planet. Although you can find seven basic configuration harmonies in music, they’re all based on the scales.
Once you learn how to use them and understand how they feel, the familiarity you gain is as essential to the creative process as a class on music theory.
A Final Thought on the Melody vs. Harmony Discussion
The one question I hear a lot from new composers involves when to create the melody and the harmony.
Although I would say that it’s easier to write music with a melody in mind first, some people prefer to begin with a harmonic picture.
If you’re writing a song with lyrics, you might find it helpful to establish the rhythm before attempting the melody or harmony.
When you write the melody first, you’re establishing the harmony simultaneously. Even if it is only a few notes long, you’ve built the foundation for what you need.
You can write on sheet paper, but I prefer to compose with Image Line’s FL Studio 20.
The Producer Edition works with Windows or macOS, supports over 80 plugin or instrument effects, and delivers one of the best workflows I’ve seen in a DAW.
If you want to add piano sounds to a composition, there isn’t a better electronic instrument you can have to use.
When you compose, the melody and harmony work together to create magic. Why not get started on a song right now?