Discovering melodies:

[3dproberts]

I have always written music by working melodies, lyrics and arrangements, in that order, way before picking up an instrument. It keeps the melody distinct of muddy cord changes and takes on a whole new life of it,s own. Discovering writing this way had me listening to birds, autos, wind, and numerous other natural sounds. I even started praying to the wind gods to deliver something strange and bewildering, and they did. The best at working melodies, was Michael Jackson.

[Len911]

Discovering your method is probably one of the most important things in songwriting imo. It's something that doesn't seem to be found in many or any of the songwriting books I have read. It's like having a list of ingredients but no recipes.
It's something I am presently working on myself. I think I am going to go with splitting the melody up and doing the melodic rhythm first, then lyrics, then pitch. It's something once I never gave much thought, though it is making more sense to me. I am sort of regressing back to the days when I was in high school and wrote poetry, I always established the rhythm before the words. It makes more sense to me now to pitch the lyrics and not lyric the pitch, because if the pitch goes up, I might end up with a question instead of a statement, and if I wait until after the lyric, I can pitch it however I need to. I guess it's like "harmonizing a melody" or "melodising a harmony",lol! See there, there isn't even such a word as "melodising" or is it "melodizing"??

[Russell Landwehr]

Generally my muse gives me chords and rythums first then the melody. However, the most recent one came the opposite, melody first. It was an interesting experience finding the chords.

I am reminded of some studio sessions many years ago where this lady came in with lyrics and melody. She played no musical instrument. The studio owner and I created the backing tracks that fit her songs. (he on drums, I played everything else) We made her sound really good. At the time I felt like a whore. Looking back now... mebbe it wasn't such a bad gig.

rl

[charlie2]

i'm a melody first person. once i get a good melody; everything else follows.

as for michael jackson.....i was just thinking today how developed the "shake your body" melody was. it's a nice simple melody in two parts and then that great chorus. i think it's his best work.

my students also love it, big time.

[hummingbird]

I used to get the feedback that my melodies were meandering in songs, so I began to write my lyrics first so that I could craft the form effectively as a basis for stronger melody.

In instrumentals I usually create the percussion first as I love playing with beats, my challenge is then to create melody & counterpoint effectively!

Of course occasionally I do it backwards or start in the middle - it's the end result that counts