Changes

''<u>Melody'' </u> is very similar to harmony, but more concerned with sequences of single notes over time than with the combination of multiple notes. Again, it is very difficult to conceptualize harmony and melody as completely separate entities. Melodies are the lines to our favorite songs we sing - a melody can tend in a particular direction, finding resolution, and having its own rhythm (meter, accents). It doesn't require harmony, although harmony often gives it its context.

Again, melody can get insanely complex...so what's our simple framework? Really, it's the same frameworks as harmony and rhythm. We take a subset of all possible frequencies and give them note names, and restrict them to 12 possibilities, with only 7 being "active" for a particular key or scale. Note duration is restricted to a common set, based around beats.  The big divergence from harmony is that pitch between octaves has signfigance. So, for example, if we take a common A minor ascending scale starting at A2 (110 HZ) as our melody; our last note should be A3 (220 HZ). Here is the example melody: A2, B2, C3, D3, E3, F3, G3, A3. This makes sure each note has an ascending pitch compared to the prior note's pitch. Similarly, A2, B3, C4, D5, E6, F7, G8, A9 is not the same melody, despite having all the same note names. It will sound much different to the listener. Ranges of notes grouped by pitch are called <u>registers</u>.