Melody

A bar from J. S. Bach's Fugue No. 17 in A-flat, BWV 862, from The Well-Tempered
Clavier (Part I), an example of counterpoint.About this sound Play (helpinfo) The
two voices (melodies) on each staff can be distinguished by the direction of th
e beams.
About this sound Voice 4 (helpinfo), About this sound Voice 3 (helpinfo),
About this sound Voice 2 (helpinfo), About this sound Voice 1 (helpinfo)
A melody (from Greek e??d?a, meloida, "singing, chanting"),[1] also tune, voice, o
r line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a
single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of pitch an
d rhythm, while more figuratively, the term can include successions of other mus
ical elements such as tonal color. It may be considered the foreground to the ba
ckground accompaniment. A line or part need not be a foreground melody.
Melodies often consist of one or more musical phrases or motifs, and are usually
repeated throughout a composition in various forms. Melodies may also be descri
bed by their melodic motion or the pitches or the intervals between pitches (pre
dominantly conjunct or disjunct or with further restrictions), pitch range, tens
ion and release, continuity and coherence, cadence, and shape.
The true goal of musicits proper enterpriseis melody. All the parts of harmony hav
e as their ultimate purpose only beautiful melody. Therefore the question of whi
ch is the more significant, melody or harmony, is futile. Beyond doubt, the mean
s is subordinate to the end.
Johann Philipp Kirnberger (1771)[2]
Contents [hide]
1 Elements
2 Examples
3 See also
4 References
5 Further reading
6 External links
Elements[edit]
Given the many and varied elements and styles of melody "many extant explanation
s [of melody] confine us to specific stylistic models, and they are too exclusiv
e."[3] Paul Narveson claimed in 1984 that more than three-quarters of melodic to
pics had not been explored thoroughly.[4]
The melodies existing in most European music written before the 20th century, an
d popular music throughout the 20th century, featured "fixed and easily discerni
ble frequency patterns", recurring "events, often periodic, at all structural le
vels" and "recurrence of durations and patterns of durations".[3]
Melodies in the 20th century "utilized a greater variety of pitch resources than
ha[d] been the custom in any other historical period of Western music." While t
he diatonic scale was still used, the chromatic scale became "widely employed."[
3] Composers also allotted a structural role to "the qualitative dimensions" tha
t previously had been "almost exclusively reserved for pitch and rhythm". Kliewe
r states, "The essential elements of any melody are duration, pitch, and quality
(timbre), texture, and loudness.[3] Though the same melody may be recognizable
when played with a wide variety of timbres and dynamics, the latter may still be
an "element of linear ordering"