How to Craft an Unforgettable Melody

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1. Short motifs repeated at different points 2. Rise and fall strategy 3. Start with an interval that inspires you and repeat it in different parts 4. Make a melody then walk away and try and recreate it the way you think it went and what you change it to naturally

5:23 man improvised the most perfect and soul-wrenching melody and thought we wouldnt notice

I've been using that remembering trick for years and always wondered how often other people came up with and used that same technique. It's simple but very effective.

“Misremember and adjust accordingly”, nicely done.

I noticed that the melodies I like the most have a lot of the time a special tone that goes out of the standard minor or major scale. Williams does it almost all of the time with using the lydian mode for example. It helps to memorize the melody too because it sound less generic and more surprising in a good way. Especially when that "special note" hits on an accent or has some kind of an important place inside the melody.

I somehow read the title as how to craft a forgettable melody 💀💀💀

Wow! The third part, "misremember and adjust" is really mind-blowing. I find it particularly useful and would definitely keep trying it in my futuring song writing.

"Use your [own] memory as a process of extracting what is memorable about your melody." Fantastic, Zach. Succinct, intuitive, and powerful. I'd love to hear your thoughts on development and building out larger forms! Keep up the excellent teaching!

I've been trying to "learn" how to create my own music lately, and as someone who spent most of my life playing music by others, but never learning music theory myself... I'm incredibly jealous of anyone who can do what Zach did while giving this tutorial. It felt very, "Oh, this old thing?" Proceeds to ad lib an homage to Howard Shore "That'll just end up on the cutting room floor." Meanwhile I spend 3 years playing audio garbage on my keyboard because creating music might as well be developing a practical theory of time-travel as far as I'm concerned. Anyone who has ever produced anything that could be considered music within a DAW; You have my undying respect.

the memory trick is how I make songs. I intentionally dont record or write it down I trust that when I have an idea and I still have it a while after without noting it down its good. Works every time

9:32 According to your watch, you were gone less than 2 minutes, not 30 minutes. Got you 🤘🏼

Zach, I wouldn’t leave the idea with the interval of a 7th as a mere example for this video. It’s astonishingly beautiful, please use it!

This is so good and the tip about using memory to make things memorable is just fantastic.!

Zach you not only lecture but you also demonstrate wonderfully. Thank you for posting these videos they’re very helpful.

I found myself humming your #2 melody after the video ended, so I guess... mission accomplished. Very clever tips Zach and misremembering seems like a good way to impart soul into what at first seems like a clinical process.

The whistle factor. I love it. Your piano playing is on hit too.

I love this video! The first part of this video is exactly the stuff we discuss on The Melodology Podcast! Over the Rainbow and Raiders March, which you reference, have even both been featured so far. Range, motifs (cells), rising motion/arc, are all part of what we discuss. We also point out how melodies often follow an upward or downward scale or chord as their "skelatons". The winner of the "rising" melodies probably goes to the Force Theme, which is amazing to examine.

4:37 my brain is fried, I thought bro was gone start playing Jennifer’s Body 💀

your amazing at what you do. literally the best music channel ive seen in a while