Writing Memorable Tunes Pt. 1

I decided that the title of this article was too broad, and in the case that I ever need to write another "Writing Memorable Tunes", I have thought ahead and added a Pt. 1.

I don't know about any of you, but one thing that I value in musicals is memorable songs. I'll give an example and a counter example. I watched Hairspray when it came out to theatres. I thought it was a fine musical, not that great, but there was nothing abhorring about it. About a month afterwards, I couldn't remember a single song from it except the opening "Good Morning Baltimore" and "You Can't Stop the Beat", simply because we sang the latter in choir class four years before it. Now compare that to The Unsinkable Molly Brown. I know a lot of people don't like it that saw it with me, but I thought it was pretty good from a theory standpoint. I still remember most of the songs from that movie even though I only saw it once. Memorable tunes don't make or break a musical, but they are still important.

Now you may initially say "Okay, Corbin. Memorable tunes. Those would be the popular ones. I should look at Pop Artists today. Everyone remembers their songs." However, their memorability is mostly because of the lyrics. As a musical writer, you don't want to depreciate your art by throwing in catchy lyrics. Instead, focus on a catchy tune. And where to look for that besides classical music?

I will warn you. Not all classical music is catchy. Just because you have heard some songs all your life and recognize them does not make them catchy either. I have gone to the orchestra before, and after listening to an entire Symphony by Mahler, for example, and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, I could not recall a single memorable line in it even minutes after leaving the hall. For "catchy" classical music, you need to look towards Gershwin, Tchaikofsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov. Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikofsky were both described as very melodic composers, with their works always having memorable themes. When I sit down and listen to a Rimsky-Korsakov or Tchaikofsky that I haven't heard before, I still can recall pieces of it later on. And Gershwin was described by many as an American Tchaikofsky, so there is his qualification.

"Corbin. I have troubles coming up with and remembering melody lines. How can I help that?"

Writing Melody Lines:
1. Sit down at a piano with a recorder and improvise over simple chord progressions. Afterwards, listen to it and see if anything sticks out.

2. If you aren't as improvisationally skilled or the above method doesn't work for you, you could also try another method of mine. Take a book. Or the back of a cereal box. Now sing the words that there are with sentences. Don't let yourself cheat and fall back on already created melodies.

3. You could try some manner of chance related creation, such as rolling a twelve sided die and writing down the results.

Remembering Melody Lines:
1. Tape Record it.

2. Write it down. I have a very good memory, but even I forget music if I don't write it down. If you aren't in a circumstance to write it down or tape record it:

3. Make sure to associate where you were and what you were doing when you came up with the melody. This works better if you weren't sitting at the piano or other instrument. Even remembering what you were listening to or thinking of can help bring it back.

4. Assign words to it. They don't have to be related to your musical at all. Just a sentence in the tune. You can usually remember words more than tunes unless you hear it enough.

I'll explore more concepts in the Writing Memorable Tunes Pt. 2, but this should get you off to a start.