Do you ever feel like you’ve been writing the same melody over and over and over again? Do your songs tend to follow a fixed pattern of pitches on repeat? Are you stuck on familiar shapes and tone tendencies? It happens! To the best of us. We all have those moments where our habits inhibit our creativity. Getting through them is all about finding new ways to work outside of your comfort zone. Here are five exercises to help you do just that, and break out of your own melodic mold.
1. Drone On! (and on and on and on...)
It’s really easy to fall into the habit of singing the root motion of your chord progressions. When you remove those chords from the writing process, you’re forced into generating melodic movement all on your own. And that’s where unique melodies start to take shape. To make your melodies new and novel, start the writing process by looping a recording of a tonic drone and improvising a melody over it.
"To make your melodies new and novel, start the writing process by looping a recording of a tonic drone and improvising a melody over it. "
2. Pitch Restrict
Limitations are the key to creative freedom. The smaller the box, the easier it is to break out of. So give yourself a melodic restriction to amplify your creativity. Write a verse or chorus melody that uses only 3-5 pitches. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the ways that the order, rhythm, note values, and tone tendencies of your pitches - oft neglected variables - add distinction and nuance to a melody. Especially when they become the primary drivers of your writing choices.
3. Modal Madness
Sometimes shifting a pitch a half step in one direction or the other can be the difference between a melody we’ve all heard a gazillion-and-one times since the mesozoic era, and something we’ve never heard before and therefore put on our “Favorites” playlist forever.
"Sometimes shifting a pitch a half step in one direction or the other can be the difference between a melody we’ve all heard a gazillion-and-one times since the mesozoic era, and something we’ve never heard before and therefore put on our “Favorites” playlist forever."
That’s what a mode does. It shifts an expected pitch or two outside of the typical major and minor scales listeners are used to hearing in western popular music. So take a moment to make friends with Lydian, Mixolydian, Dorian, and Phrygian to move your melodies into an elevated modality. (You can make friends with Locrian, too, but they’re real skittish and like to hide out under the bleachers during pep rallies).
4. Take and Tweak
Listen to some music that you like and identify a motif that you find particularly engaging. Learn it, take it, then tweak it to make it your own! Ask yourself, what would this sound like backwards? I wonder what would happen if I kept the rhythm but changed the pitches? Could this melodic motif be extended into something longer? What about shortened into a punchier hook? What if I kept the shape but started on a different note? The possibilities are endless when we take something we like and give it a new twist.
"The possibilities are endless when we take something we like and give it a new twist."
It’s a great way to make your melodies familiar yet unique.
5. Shape Shifter
There are four common patterns and shapes that occur in songs that you can use as a template to start your melody writing process. Those shapes, also called melodic contours, are known as static, step, skip, and leap melodies. All those shapes are defined by how your pitches move in relation to each other. Pick one shape as a starting point, and play with it to make it your own.
A static shape repeats the same note over and over again, and is often paired with an interesting bass pattern or changing harmonic information.
A step melody is built on stepwise motion, with your melody moving from one note directly into the next pitch that lives either above or below it diatonically.
A skip shape is great for exploring and creating arpeggios because it moves in thirds.
Lastly, a leap is a melodic shape that jumps up or down to a note that is at least a 4th away from your starting pitch. Big intervals means big intrigue.
Next time you find yourself in a melodic rut, use one of these exercises to get yourself unstuck!
About Erin
Erin Bonnie is an Americana Folk-Rock Mama and fiddle player who takes inspiration from artists like Gillian Welch, Bonnie Raitt, and Dolly Parton.
Career highlights include sync placement on the hit television series The Young and the Restless, an Honorable Mention in the American Songwriter Magazine Lyric Competition, and a Best-In-State nomination at the New England Music Awards. In addition to being an independent artist with extensive cowriting and recording experience, she is an Assistant Professor in the Songwriting Department at the esteemed Berklee College of Music teaching lyric writing, song craft, and professional development.
A true singer-songwriter at heart, she writes narratives lush in language and melody, and lives for those intimate moments between audience and artist that happen because of a song and a stage.
