Writing stronger melodies - lessons from nature

What do TREES, SMOKE, MUSCLES and WAVES have to teach us about writing melodies?

A killer melody line can make a song (and a lame one can also break your song).  You know a great melody when you hear it, by maybe you're wondering WHY it works?

That's what we'll explore in this class, as we dive into songwriting/composition techniques to strengthen your music. 

We'll approach this topic by looking at nature.  Nature is all around us, and it's literally us.  Our bodies are part of nature.  Therefore, we are instinctually attracted to works that have really strong similarities to nature.  Not literal similarities (i.e. a song about the ocean), but similarity in structure and anatomy.  

Here's some of the things we'll cover in this class, that will help you when you are writing a song:

• How patterns, and variations on patterns, are found in nature - and how that relates to music composition and songwriting. 

• What can we learn from smoke - and how that teaches about anticipation and surprise.  And how this can inform how much repetition you'll use when composing and writing a melody.

• How tension and relaxation can create movement in your music - just like how it works in our bodies (with muscles).  There are a number of composition techniques in this, for how to work with tension (dissonance). 

• Adding complexity through overlapping melodic lines - similar to how waves overlap each other.  How composing with this in mind can add increased complexity and depth to your music. 

Whether you're someone looking to get better at writing songs, or composing instrumental music, we are going to dive into the FUNDAMENTALS around music.  There will be plenty of songwriting techniques in there, but my main aim is to equip you with a better understanding for how these elements work. 

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