It is customary to call a melody a sequence of musical tones at a certain tempo and rhythm, which is perceived by the listener as a whole, and not as a set of sounds. However, music and melody are not synonymous.
Instructions
Step 1
It is believed that the very concept of melody appeared in antiquity. And the word - "melody" - is of ancient Greek origin, although the ancient Greeks themselves, according to a few written testimonies, called about the same thing simply melos, a set of methods for chanting poetry. In other words, the origin of the melody is related to the tempo and rhythm of the recitation. Depending on what mood had to be conveyed to the reciter to the listeners, the melody differed: - leading (forward, smooth movement, vaguely reminiscent of a scale), subdivided into ascending, descending and circular; - weaving (hopping movement); - rehearsal (repetition of some and the same sounds of the same pitch).
Step 2
In general terms, this classification was taken as a basis by the theorists of music of the era of classicism, who created the foundations of harmony that successfully existed until the end of the 19th century. According to this theory, music can be either polyphonic (when all voices are equal, and each of them can lead a melody that changes from register to register) or homophonic (melody plus accompaniment). Simply put, the classicists separated the high style from the low, which was at that time very characteristic of scientific research in the field of art.
Step 3
The foundations of this harmonious theory were laid quite firmly. And to this day, it is assumed that the melody should have a finished drawing, and if it does not end with a cadence (one of several established endings for a piece), then at least not be too modulated (modulation is a transition to a key by a semitone or more up or down without returning to base). Polyphony is a thing of the past, but homophonic performance remains, which was actively developed in the Viennese school of composition until the music became too monotonous.
Step 4
In the first half of the 20th century, many composers abandoned classical music theory and switched to polytonal composition (I. Stravinsky, D. Shostakovich) or - and this was a revolutionary decision - to dodecaphony (“new Viennese school”), which tried to return to the true concept about music that existed before the rigid framework of classicism. However, by doing so, the composers went to the other extreme, again dividing all music into “high” (for true connoisseurs) and “low” (for the “crowd”).
Step 5
However, in the second half of the last century, due to the fact that many new possibilities for playing music appeared (from an electric guitar to a computer), the melody again became the lot of not only "low genres", but also returned to the work of serious composers (A. Schnittke, E. Denisov, E. Artemiev).
