Fundamental: Music Theory, Melody

For this edition of the Fundamental series, you continue to develop your music theory knowledge and practices that form an integral part of any dance musicians production skills – this time you will learn about the theory and composition of melodies, motifs, and hooks.

Almost every record ever made will make use of a melody in one form or another, whether its particularly exotic as with uplifting trance or a simpler style of motif or hook as typically heard in mainroom, house and even the bass in tech-house and techno. Melodies form the fundamental element to almost every form and genre of dance music and the more memorable they are, the better. However, composing memorable melodies is far more difficult than it initially appears and requires a good understanding of the theory and plenty of practice.

You will take an in-depth tutorial on the music theory behind melodies, this 4-hour course examines how they are typically conceived and composed including a detailed look at how to use the circle of fifths to determine keys. Throughout the tutorial, theories and techniques such as balance, counterbalance, contour, energy, drive, dynamics and motifs are all discussed in detail before we move on to examine some of the techniques you can use to create your own melodies alongside a look at some of the synthesis and processing methods for leads in dance records.

Note: for this tutorial, you should already have a basic understanding of musical scales, as discussed in Fundamental: Music Theory, Bass.