Writing a Catchy Melody
- Emotional Connection: Think about the emotion or mood you want to convey. Different melodies evoke different feelings so choose notes and rhythms that compliment what the emotion is you’re conveying.
- Repetition and Variation: Use repetition to create familiarity and catchiness in your melody. Repeat certain melodic phrases, which in music we call motifs, throughout the song. Introduce variations of the melody to keep it interesting and from being too monotonous.
- Call and Response: Create a call and response effect in melody by alternating between two contrasting melodies. This can create a sense of dialogue or interaction within the melody. An example would be Taylor Swift’s song ‘You Belong With Me’
Call: You’re on the phone with your girlfriend, she’s upset
She’s going off about something that you said
Response: ‘Cause she doesn’t get your humor like I do
- Add Syncopation: this is a musical term of playing or singing off beat. So the beat would be on 1, 2 3 or 4 and you’d sing on the ‘and’ of 1, 2, 3 or 4. This creates a sense of groove and energy
- Intervals: Experiment with different interval jumps to create excitement and flow. Large intervals will give it more excitement while smaller intervals will create more ease and a sense of flow.
These are just a few tips to get you started in writing catchy melodies for your songs. I can’t wait to hear what you write!!
Xoxo,
