demonofthenight

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CONTOUR

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Well this is going to be a hilariously short and simple article.

Contour is describing the curve of a melody. A good melody should make it’s ascent up towards a climax note (where the melody hits a peak) and make a controlled descent down. A descent that’s short in respect to how much the melody rose doesn’t sound very good.

Notice how this example rises to a D and than comes back down (relatively) slowly to an Bb? Also notice the nice curve this melody makes.

Melodic contour can make an arch (or it can go the opposite way and make a trough), like in the first two phrases of Sunday bloody Sunday; or it can make a ramp, like the last phrase of Sunday bloody Sunday. As long as your melody is moving with purpose and not stagnating, it really doesn’t matter which you do.

Contour also comes down to the range of a melody. For a singing melody, it is best to keep the range under one and a half of an octave, as not many non-musicians have a greater range than one and a half octaves.

For an instrumental melody, I suggest you make the range as large as possible without sounding bumpy.

Well, that’s it. Go home, nothing more to see here.