The creation of melodies without lyrics

cgglyde

From experience I've always had to write lyrics first then a melody for those lyrics, by overlapping my lyrics and my music and finding ways to make them fit together. This works for the most part and has it's benefits, I can work off the natural rhythm of the words and natural acends / decends of the notes. But I don't have a great control over the rhythm this way, cause I'm trying to cram all the word I want to use into the passage I've chosen. I feel like being able to write a melody first before a lyric is so much more beneficial because you have free range of movement in many more musical aspects, at least in my opinion. However I struggle with this, every time I try to write a melody first, I tend to fall into my usual habits and I also feel like I'm focusing on to much at once and it overwhelms while I try to do it. I'm not gonna explain to much more and just ask my question, for those of you who write melodies, primarily without words, whats your process and why, if you don't mind sharing. 

MichaelS

@cgglyde:

Hi! Yes i`m sure- start the song from music it correct way. Of course, creative process have no rules and i start from lyrics sometimes but i don`t like it. And that`s why:

First of all once you have lyrics, you are caged. Because lyrics already have rhytmic and metric structure. And you can`t  throw away or add syllables in words. And even more - you have the story  you should tell to the end.

And second - words kills imagnation. I believe music is highest of the all arts and universal language because music talks straight to the human`s emotions, hearts and souls bypassing the mind. Let me clear. When you hear some notes you can feel emotion, but there is no concrete picture. You can create your own picture in you mind.But it`s not the exactly composer`s picture. It`s endless flow of creation. Words - it`a another thing. Language arose to describe the reality, so every time you hear the word, you've got the picture (concrete picture) in your brain. Fill difference?

The proof is evergreens. There is some songs which well known and loved around the world. Do all people in the world understand the lyrics in this songs? Obviosly no. Why this songs so popular? Because of the music. Music is the universal language. 

And i believe it`s two ways of thinking - composers and poets. What for the poet means "Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away", for composer means GFF ABC#DEFEDD by the way listen to what Paul McCartney said about creation of this song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0xsbrUkIE8 and it`s impossible to say more. You ask about process , but the question is not about process in my opinion. My process is simple - sometimes strum chords and sing over it, sometimes motifs comes to the head. Sometimes i have grain of melody and trying to feel where the melody wants to develop. The main question is:why or how to turn notes into melody. You can use ten scales and create nothing and you can use 3-4 notes and turn this notes to great music. How it can be possible? It`s magic. it`s impossible to explain.....  it`s impossible to say use  this scale or use this intervals and  and you're sure to create a beautiful melody.

Cheers, Michael 

mkeymont

@cgglyde, One thing that I sometimes do is to choose a phrase, something that you're working on lyrically or even random and put on some kind of jam track or play some music and just sing along using that phrase. You'll come up with fresh new ways to sing that phrase out of boredom alone!! I once read that guitarist Steve Vai would, as an exercise, play the same note for an hour straight. I did it once and sure enough, after 5 minutes I got so bored that the little subtleties and variations started to become more important and noticeable. It's a great way to increase your musical sensitivities. Also, try writing melodies using only a few notes. It forces you to realize that rhythm is a huge part of what makes a melody unique! Mike

highmtn

Cool Vid!

Bob

Kokonuht

Really cool vid! I had a song in a dream once, I woke up and I remembered it. Though the memory didn't last long, I forgotten about it later =\

david1552

@MichaelS

Thanks for sharing

I'm not sure I've dreamed about a melody/song, but sometimes a melody hits me and IF I don't record it directly it's goooone even though I always thinks "Ohh this is a good melody, there's no way I will forget it..."

Anyway, for me the creation of a song ALWAYS starts with a melody... I've never managed to write lyrics before I have a melody...

//David

MichaelS

@david1552:

Yeah, if you don`t write it down, it`s fly away.  Very fragile substance... :^(   It's happened with me too and now I try to record immediately. By the way,  I started to use the simple voice recorder. Very helpful little device .  

david1552

@MichaelS

That's certainly is a good thing those little voice recorders I use my mobile as a portable recorder at the moment and it works quite good. I'm not sure how many great melodies I've lost because I didn't put it on tape immediately...

//David

cgglyde

Thanks for all the comments and advice and that is an awesome vid......Yeah I always have to write the lyrics and then follow the natural melody and maybe exaggerate parts.....but I've been reading through these responses and I think I've thought of a good way to go about it. Thanks for all the help