MORNING IN MUSIC - A MUSICAL TETE - TE

MORNING IN MUSIC - A MUSICAL TETE - TE

Namrata – Good Morning Sir ! Absorbed in music – What are you listening ?

Sudhanshu – Good MORNING !! How have you being doing ?? I’m listening to

Beethoven ……… these are penultimate notes of Moonlight Sonata. A very pitching ………… setting flat notes on alternating higher – lower ……. notes ….. sharp melody !!!

Namrata – Sir what is melody in the realm of Western Classical Music – But briefly - so I just have a hang of its meaning ??

Sudhanshu – Namrata, given that many people consider melody the main thing in music, the focus of their attention and interest, it is surprising how slippery the subject remains, and how many works of all kinds have found popularity without a strong melodic line. Rock 'n' roll, for example, is not a particularly melodic genre; the classic sixties tunes "Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles' "Come Together" are mostly a minimal chanting of two or three notes, and the recent rap style has no tune at all but only a text spoken rhythmically.

Namrata - If melody were the main criterion of quality in classical music, Schubert might be considered the greatest of composers, with only a few people such as Verdi and Mozart holding a candle to him?

Sudhanshu – Yes !! Though Beethoven could write a dandy tune now and then, some of his finest movements are based on rather simple and featureless melodic material. Even the effect of the famous first movement of his Moonlight Sonata depends more on the harmony, rhythm, and dreamlike atmosphere than on the laconic melody. Similarly, much of Haydn's material is quite plain. A number of twentieth-century avant-garde and electronic pieces have made their point with nothing even approaching a tune.

Namrata - So is melody overrated as the most important aspect of music?

Sudhanshu - Yes and no. Many other things can make a piece work-the expressive unfolding, the handling of intensities, the harmonies, the instrumental colors, the rhythm. Usually, it's the marshaling of many such elements into an effective whole that makes a classical piece work. So as to tunes, let’s put it this Way; if the melody is the main point, the composer had better make sure it's a good one.

When the magic happens and one discovers a good melody, it is indeed one of the most marvelous things in music, for the composer as well as the listeners !!!! A melody can't be forced; like a character in a novel, it must step up to the creator and reveal its shape and personality. An artist can refine that kind of inspiration but can't summon or predict it. A good melody is an ineffable gift of the Muse.

Whether we are hearing it or composing it, melody is largely a mysterious dialogue between ear and intuition. Still, as with all intuitive matters, our sense of melody can be sharpened by practice and experience. Some melodies are easy to follow ("Greensleeves," "Yesterday"), usually because their melodic line conforms to familiar patterns. Melodic patterns new to us (say, Indian or atonal) may take time, attention, and patience before we can discern their coherence.

Namrata – What is the nature of melody in Sonatas etc. The essential nature of Melodies in most of the symphonies except for few I find elusive …..!!!

Sudhanshu - Even if the essential nature of melody remains elusive, we can identify a number of organizing principles. Universally, a melodic line tends to be related unconsciously to the voice, whether or not voices are actually performing it. For that reason we tend to interpret a rise in pitch as an increase in intensity, because higher pitches require more tension in the vocal cords; conversely, descending pitch tends to produce a sense of relaxation. Even in a rising and falling police siren one feels a rise and fall of tension. Leaps-large intervals-in a line increase tension because we sense that they are more difficult to sing. So a "good" melody, among other things, involves a satisfying and coherent arrangement of rise and fall, leaps and smoothness, tension and release. This feature of a melodic line, like a line in a drawing, is called its shape.

Namrata - Some melodies have smooth, relatively restful linear shapes, such as the famous one from Beethoven's Ninth.

Others, like the theme that begins Mozart's G minor Symphony, have more jagged and dynamic shapes.

Can you quickly unpack this for me !!!

Sudhanshu – A couple of final ideas. The term melody is roughly synonymous with tune, but the latter often implies a self-contained unit such as a folk tune, with a beginning, middle, and end. Melody is a broader term that includes such subtypes as a folk tune or a symphonic theme. The latter is rarely designed to stand alone; a classical theme tends to be open-ended, less self-contained than a tune, more dependent for its effect on its context and function in a larger work. Moreover, classical themes are often made up of motives, short melodic building blocks that can be detached and used as a basis for development or to construct other themes. The motives and phrases in the opening theme of Mozart’s G minor Symphony can be seen. As simple as the opening three-note motive is, it nonetheless dominates the entire first movement.

In symphonies, sonatas, and the like, themes tend to be preferred to tunes precisely because themes are less complete, easier to break up and rearrange and develop. They need to continue. That's the reason why symphonic themes can be effective even when they’re not particularly "tuneful." In a large classical work. We are involved in a stretch of time that is like a little life, with peaks and valleys of interest but always an absorbing sense of unfolding. That's a dimension beyond the effect of a good tune.

Namrata – That gives me some clarity !! Thanks Sir !! I’ll get you a cup of tea ………. and then leave ….. I’m expecting a business call from US. Will continue the conversation next time …. !!

Sudhanshu – Thanks Namrata !! God Bless You !!