Area of Study 03:

Texture and Melody

Melody
AQA GCSE Music

Areas of Study
AoS 01: Rhythm and Metre
AoS 02: Harmony and Tonality

A0S 03: Texture and Melody

AoS 04: Dynamics and Timbre

AoS 05: Structure and Form

Melody
What is meant by Melody?
A melody is a rhythmically organised pattern
of single notes arranged in succession, one
after the other. In melody the notes are
arranged horizontally (whereas in harmony
that are arranged vertically)
Or..THE TUNE

Melody
Counter Melody A second, less important
tune to support the main melody
Pitch how high or low the note is
Scale a group of notes played in ascending
or descending order

Melody cont
Interval The gap in pitch between two notes

Perfect

Perfect

Arpeggio Playing the notes of a chord one by

one (bit like a broken chord)

Conjunct, Disjunct, Triadic and Scalic

These are all different kinds of melodic note
patterns.
Conjunct notes in the melody move mainly by
step (they are mostly next to each other in pitch)
Disjunct moves mainly by leaps (big intervals
between the notes)
Triadic the melody begins by using notes that
belong to the triad (of chord) e.g. C E G (C Chord)
Scalic melody that is made up of notes that
follow the order of a particular scale

Different Scales
Pentatonic scale a five note scale. Often used in
Chinese, African and Celtic Folk melodies
Whole Tone Scale a scale made up of only whole
tones. E.g. C, D, E, F#, G#, A#
Chromatic Scale scale made up of semitones
Passing notes are the notes in between the notes of
the accompanying chord.
Blue notes the flattened notes in a Blues Scale. Often
slide up or down to these notes. They make a piece
sound bluesy.
e.g. - C, Bb, G, Gb, F, Eb, C

Melody Cont.
Sequence when a tune is repeated a step
higher (ascending sequence) or a step lower
(descending sequence).
Pitch bend bending the note on a guitar or
any string instrument/voice or
keyboard/synthesizer.

Repetition
3 Words for same meaning just use the
correct word for the style of music
Ostinato Classical
Riff Popular music
Loop Electronic/technology based music

Ornamentation
This is about decorating parts of the melody
Trills 2 notes that are next to each other
played rapidly
57 seconds and
beyond, shows
Trills being
used.
All instruments
perform trills,
especially in
Baroque Music

Video 02

 Double Stopping -

Cont.

This is when 2 notes are played at the same time (Two

strings at the same time). This is term only applies to string
instruments.
1 Min 20 Secs shows an
example of Double
Stopping
There is extensive use of
this throughout the piece
1 Min 8 Secs Pizzicato,
followed by staccato
bowed

Video 03

Tremolo

Another string effect, means, trembling or quivering

Rapid up-and-down movements of the bow on the strings,
creating an agitated or shimmering effect

Listen and look at the

opening to Bruckner
Symphony 9
The Strings open the
piece, using a
Tremolo effect. Very
short bowing, but
very fast to capture
that shimmering
effect.
Video 5

Glissando
Glissando (instruments)/ Portamento (voice)
sliding between 2 notes.
Track 05

Rhapsody in Blues
Listen to the
Slide at the
start by the
Clarinet just
after the trill

On the next slide, look

at video of the guitar
playing a melody. It
focusses mainly on
using Glissandos
(slides)
Video 04

Video 04

Articulation

Articulation how the notes are played:

Staccato short, detached notes (Spikey)
Staccato

Non-Staccato
(Legato)

Legato notes are played attached, smoothly

Legato

Sometimes
indicated by a slur

Played Staccato

Articulation cont.
Pizzicato Short, plucked notes on a stringed
instrument

Con Arco
Simply
means, use
of Bow

Video 01
This example
shows extensive
use of Pizzicato

Melody Cont.
Phrase a musical sentence (where youd
naturally take a breath). Often 2, 4 or 8 bars
long. Indicated by a curved line above the
stave.
Improvisation when a player makes the
music up on the spot. In jazz/blues/pop
players will often improvise a solo
commonly on a guitar/sax/trumpet/keyboard.