by Mark Simos
Range is also essential in creating sectional contrast. For example, you might write the lower verse section in a plagal range (to the fifth below the tonic), saving the upper part of the authentic range for the chorus and/or bridge. Reversing this, you could let the chorus ascend to an octave and fifth above the low point of the range.
Melody/Rhythm Connections
We’ve looked at several aspects of melodic design in isolation. Let’s turn now to various connections between melody and the other facets examined so far: rhythm and lyric. We’ll look first at melody/rhythm connections, then at connections of melody to lyrics, in terms of both sound and sense aspects. In the final section we’ll tackle the more complex interactions between melodic contour and lyric rhythm (a lyric set to a rhythmic phrase). (We’ll discuss connections between melody and chordal harmony in a separate chapter following the “Harmony” chapter.)
The Melody/Rhythm Continuum
We can conceive the melody/rhythm connection as a kind of continuum or spectrum. We can gradually transform given melodic or rhythmic material along this continuum, bending and shaping it at will. Here, transformation refers not to the types of motivic operations on melody discussed earlier, but an incremental shape-shifting or “morphing” of material. We can gradually transform a rhythmic phrase in the direction of melody, or go the other way, gradually increasing the rhythmic emphasis of a melodic contour.
Rhythm to Melody
We’ve defined an idealized concept of a rhythmic phrase as a succession of “pitchless” rhythmic events—hits, beats, strikes of varying durations. As soon as we articulate such a rhythm within a metric framework, we promote certain hits to more prominence. These differentials might follow expected metric weights set by time signature and groove, or syncopate against these, intensifying certain hits on metrically weak beats. In principle, listeners’ anticipations are enough for them to experience this hierarchy of different weights, different levels of intensity. But we also employ dynamics, timbre, articulation, or percussive effect. For example, we can contrast short hits of quick duration and quick decay, followed by silence, with sustained tones that fill their allotted duration.
Quickly, we can turn also to pitch to signal these varying emphases. We might turn a rhythmic phrase, by degrees, into a melodically articulated phrase, first with a two-pitch rhythmic pattern, as used in many drum patterns, gradually extending to three or more pitches. This process is similar to the technique, described in the “Lyrics” chapter, of finding the energetic contour of a rhythmic phrase. In setting from rhythm to lyric, this contour was used as a basis for mapping from rhythm to lyric sounds. Alternatively, one can use this same intuitive “weighting” to set from a rhythmic phrase to a melodic contour.
Figure 5.4 shows an example of a rhythmically driven melody,
FIG. 5.4. A Rhythmically Driven Melody
This melody has an intrinsic rhythmic quality, exclusive of any rhythmic emphasis in performance, due to characteristic features of the rhythmic patterns and melodic contours.
Rhythmic aspects:
Shorter rhythmic values (a predominant eighth-note pace in the example), with longer durations occurring mostly at initial or cadential spots in phrases.
Regular successions of repeated rhythmic values (e.g., the six successive eighth notes in measure 3).
Repeated rhythmic figures (e.g., the BD G BD figures repeated in measures 1 and 2). Such figures often attract sonic connections in lyric syllables such as assonance, consonance, or internal rhyme.
Syncopations and anticipations (e.g., the anticipated downbeats of measures 2, 3, and 4). Delayed attacks can also add rhythmic emphasis, though with a differing energetic quality.
Melodic contour aspects:
Smaller melodic range (example range is just a fourth).
Smaller pitch set, the number of distinct pitches employed (the example has just three).
Gapped-scale or pentatonic-derived as opposed to scalar or arpeggiated chordal movement. (The example is built around a filled tetrachord: G BD C.)
Following these principles, we could begin to “melodize” a given rhythmic phrase in a straightforward, if perhaps mechanistic way: assigning higher pitches to beats of greater metric weight. We could gradually extend this to simple two-note contours or a three-note “filled tetrachord” (as in the example), or extend the range further. This is not the only way to transform a rhythmic phrase to a melody, but it provides a starting “prototype” melodic version you can then play with further.
Melody to Rhythm
We can also go the other way, “rhythmicizing” a given melody. This could involve incrementally restricting melodic range, shifting from a full diatonic to a more angular (e.g., pentatonic) version, or introducing rhythmic effects such as anticipations and delays, consecutive notes of the same duration, or repeating rhythmic patterns.
We can also reverse each of these transformations, for example, revising a too rhythmic melody in the direction of more flowing “lyrical” melodic form. In the right stylistic setting and for the right kind of song, rhythmic melodies can be highly effective and infectious. But often, such rhythmic effects are artifacts of a first-version “filler” melody, and don’t necessarily serve prosodic needs of the song. Working melody first, a heavily rhythmic setting might also overly constrain lyric choices later in the writing process. Figure 5.5 shows an example lyric we might write to the rhythmic melody of figure 5.4:
FIG. 5.5. Lyric Line Set to Rhythmically Driven Melody
As the example in figure 5.5 suggests, associated lyrics for rhythmically driven melodies tend to have these attributes:
shorter vs. longer, closed vs. open vowel sounds
use of plosive (rather than fricative or sibilant) consonants at the start of syllables, for percussive effect
more staccato attacks than sustained durations of notes
syncopations (anticipations, delays, off-beats) and wrenched-stress syllables
a tendency for matched rhythmic figures to attract sonic effects like rhyme (baby/maybe)
Figure 5.6 shows a possible revision of figure 5.5’s rhythmic melody. This more flowing melody contour would be a better response to, or alternately a prompt for, the accompanying more “lyrical” lyric:
FIG. 5.6. Revised Melody. A more lyrical direction, with altered lyric.
We’ve expanded range both below and above the original fourth, added “softening” diatonic notes, and muted some repetitions of rhythmic figures. We’ve added a peak in melodic contour, on a weak metric beat (the high F in bar 3). This emphasizes not just the peak note itself (and associated lyric) but also succeeding notes; the C BD figure, a repetition of a figure heard several times preceding, now sounds fresh approached via the descending fourth. We’ve also retained just one anticipation (“love” at the start of bar 2), while introducing a balancing delay (on “heart” in bar 4).
Principle: Anticipations “push” rhythmic pace; delayed notes “pull” it. Balance the factors of push and pull in a melody to make it feel less driven by and more responsive to the melody’s rhythmic aspects.
Melody/Lyric Connections
As with melody and rhythm, we can define an axis or continuum between melody and lyric. Sometimes, we want the melody to do little more than carry the lyric and leave it in the foreground. Other times, lyrics effectively accompany the melody. Each texture can be used artfully and effectively, or to poor effect.
At a broad level, lyric content can influence the types of melodies we set to lyrics, while conversely, certain types of melodies seem to invite different types of lyric content and tone. The texture of lyric language can be viewed as a polarity, ranging from direct sensory description to more abstract “thought and feeling” language. Metaphor creates an intermediate texture, often linking sensory images with an associated emotion or abstract quality. Certain melodic/lyric textures bring melody to the foreground; other textures set lyrics (with their content or referential connotations) into more
prominence. Some songwriters have speculated that lyrics conveying will and energy “ask for” more rhythmic melodies, while lyrics full of imagery and metaphor are complemented by flowing melodic lines.
Lyric Sounds and Melody
The sounds of lyrics are intimately connected to melody. Interactions of lyric and melody include shaping vowels and consonants to melodic range and contour, and matching melodic contour to intonation patterns in spoken and sung speech. These factors play into the more detailed rhythmic interactions of melody and lyric we’ll examine next.
One set of concerns is fairly pragmatic, from a vocalist’s perspective, involving placement of vowel and consonant combinations relatively high or low in the vocal register. Vowels are a main focus in these interactions. In broad terms, notes at extremes of the vocal range, or held for longer durations, take open and long vowels in preference to closed and short vowels.
Often these concerns arise because of trouble spots and the fixes and revisions they require. The more demanding the vocal melody in range or speed of delivery, the more critical these considerations become. An anecdote reflecting these concerns involves lyricist Yip Harburg and composer Harold Arlen’s timeless classic, “Over the Rainbow.” Yip’s original “song seed” or thematic prompt to Arlen for the song was the title phrase: “I Want to Get on the Other Side of the Rainbow.” After Arlen wrote the soaring melody, with its signature upward octave leap at the start of the verse, Harburg (after some resistance) agreed to rewrite the lyric. He decided he needed a long “O” vowel sound at the top of the melodic curve, came up with “over,” then worked backward to “somewhere,” which suited the octave leap perfectly. In this case, theme and imagery shaped melody, which in turn shaped specific word choices in the lyric. If Arlen and Harburg could do it—why oh why can’t we?13
Natural Intonation and Speech Melody
There are also implied melodic aspects of natural intonation patterns in speech. We’ve seen that lyricists heighten and regularize natural rhythms in speech into formal stress levels and syllabic rhythm patterns, and then further refine these into the musical framework of the song’s lyric rhythm. We can also use the natural rise and fall of vocal intonation in speech as a basis for melodic ideas. In fact, there’s a close connection between lyric rhythm and melodic contour. Pitch is one way to indicate stress emphasis, along with dynamics, duration, and other aspects of intonation. Pitch contours implied in speech intonation also communicate emotional cues. Casual, conversational speech tends to use smaller pitch contours; more animated, impassioned speech involves higher placement of tones in the range and wider overall range.
Exercise 5.4. “The Well.” Transform a spoken line to vocal melody
This exercise demonstrates in a dramatic way the mapping from conversational speech to melodic contour. The goal is to discover a melodic setting that closely matches a natural intonation pattern and cadence for a given lyric line. I’ve facilitated this many times as a live group exercise, employing the playful metaphor of “The Well.” Here, I present a modified version you can try in solo writing, or adapt for work with a partner.
To find a melody for our lyric, we must inquire of the Tune Genie who lives at the bottom of a well. When we throw a spoken lyric line down the well, the echo that comes back will have been turned into pitches!
1.Begin with a spoken lyric line, with a distinct syllabic rhythm. It should be long enough to feel like a complete phrase, but short enough to remember without too much effort. Here’s an apropos example line: “I’m calling to the genie at the bottom of the Well.”
Repeat the line multiple times, settling into a consistent way of speaking it. Speak a bit like a radio announcer, with enough animation to create a good range of speech tones.
2.Continue to repeat the line, but gradually take away the consonants. In technical terms, this step transforms the lyric into a vowel contour with intonation. In practice? Pretend you’re drunk and slurring your words. Or imagine you’re a dog at a dinner party, listening to the humans chatter, waiting to hear your name:
I’m calling to the genie at the bottom of the Well
EYE AH-EE OO UH EE-NIE A UH AH-UH UH UH EH
3.With succeeding repetitions, let even the vowel differentiation melt away, until all that remains are implied pitches of the vocal inflection. As you let the articulation go, you may start to sound like a patient in the dentist’s chair. (Hopefully at this point you’re having more fun with this particular “drill.”)
A pivotal “crossover point” is reached when the spoken, inflected tones audibly transform into steady-pitch musical tones. Slow the tempo slightly, and hear the speech tones, with their wavering rise and fall of pitch, turn into held tones at a constant pitch. (In a group setting, this is truly a magical moment—when it works right!)
4.Once you’ve locked in on a stable melody, sung with vowels only, sing the original lyric to your newfound melody. Your first version of the melody is likely to be an approximation you will want to refine a bit with repetition. Watch for repeated pitches at peaks or valleys in the melodic contour that could be differentiated in pitch, or simple scalar patterns or repeating figures that could be varied to better set the line. Figure 5.7 shows a possible melody derived from the example line using the technique, along with a slight adjustment of the contour with repeated notes (Gen-ie at the).
FIG. 5.7. Melody Derived from the “Well” Example
Melodies arrived at with this technique tend to be quite singable, often with a modal or pentatonic flavor. They follow natural speaking cadences, but are less likely to be innovative or attention-grabbing. This naturalness is useful when melody must support comprehension and absorption of a dense or complex lyric. Musical theater writers and opera composers working on recitative (as opposed to arias) may intuitively use variants of this technique when coming up with the effortless, translucent melodic settings needed for complex, nuanced lyrics.
Lyric Rhythm and Melodic Contour
We’ve seen that melodies can move in more rhythmic or more flowing “lyrical” ways (the latter referencing conventional, informal connotations of “lyrical” as a descriptive term). We’ve seen also that in melody/lyric relationships, at times, we’d like the melodic line in the foreground of attention; at other times, we want the melody to recede, bringing the lyric to the forefront.
Here, we’ll build on the description of setting between lyric and rhythm given at the end of the “Lyrics” chapter. The result of this setting work is a lyric set to a specific rhythmic phrase—what I’ll call here, for convenience, a rhythmic lyric. To work with melody and lyric in a full 360° songwriting sense, we also want to be able to set between this rhythmic lyric and a melodic contour with its inherent rhythm—again, in either direction.
Control of these elements and effects depends on interactions between lyric rhythm and rhythms embedded in the melodic contour—and specifically in possibilities of moving these at different paces, to create different lyric/melodic textures. We need this control to experiment with varied lyric/melodic textures in writing and revision. In particular, we want to be able to vary lyric and melodic rhythm independently. This will be a lot easier to explain with a specific example to clarify the various steps involved. 14
Review of Syllabic and Lyric Rhythm
Let’s start with an example lyric line:
Talk to me gently, hold my aching head in your lap
As we’ve seen, we can explore multiple syllabic rhythm settings of the line, reflecting in-built linguistic stress patterns, stress by emphasis decisions, etc.
FIG. 5.8. Alternate Syllabic Rhythm Settings for the Example Lyric
The lyric with its preferred syllabic rhythm is then set to a lyric rhythm: each syllable set to a beat and duration within the song’s metrical framework.

FIG. 5.9. Lyric and Syllabic Rhythm to Lyric Rhythm
Given a lyric and syllabic rhythm, different lyric rhythms can be developed, still with n
o necessary reference yet to melody:
FIG. 5.10. Alternate Lyric Rhythm Setting. Back-heavy phrasing, shifted emphasis.
Melismas and Chanting Tones
So far, so good. Now: how does melody enter into the picture? How do we set from this rhythmic lyric to a vocal melody? Each rhythmic placement of a syllable must be set to some melodic pitch. However, that pitch can be a new or changing pitch, or a pitch held over from the previous syllable. Conversely, each pitch is sung to a syllable. That can be a new syllable articulated on that pitch, or a syllable held over from a previous pitch. This independence of rhythm in syllabic placements and melodic contour respectively yields three distinct kinds of lyric/melodic texture.
1.In the simplest texture, each syllable is sung on one melodic pitch. You can write extended passages in this texture, where melodic pitches and syllables change in tandem.
2.We can also sing one syllable on a series of notes at successive changing pitches—melisma. Strictly, melisma means simply singing more than one note on a syllable. As an adjective, “melismatic” is also used to describe an overall highly ornamented singing style (i.e., one with lots of melismas). I’ll refer to even short runs of notes as melismas, though the overall texture of the song or the passage may not be melismatic in style.