Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with melody

Cheapest and fastest way to turn a piece of music on paper into MIDI

storybored — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:57:03 -0800

What's the fastest and cheapest way to create a midi recording of a 1 or 2 page written melody? I have pieces of vocal music and i would like to know how they sound. The music's got dotted rhythms and tied notes. No triplets (yet) but would be nice if the technique supported that. These are simple vocal lines (no chords).

I'm fine with techniques that use a short-hand to enter the notes rather than inputting the actual score. Speed and cheapness is what i'm after.

Can anyone identify these songs by their melodies?

cdenman — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:34:39 -0800

Can anyone identify one of these songs I have stuck in my head? (Links below) - Please help! Song 1

Song 2

Song 3

(1) is a demo song that came with my Yamaha P200 keyboard - it's quite plausible that it was composed for the keyboard, but if it is a 'real' song I'd love to know.

(2) and (3) are melodies that have got absolutely stuck in my head and I would love to know what they are if anyone can tell me! I suspect (2) to be a very old song and (3) to be a very recent one, but anything's possible.

Song Openings

goalyeehah — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:35:44 -0800

What is the term for an introduction to a song that is completely different in melody than then the rest of the song itself? A friend of mine was listening to Patti Page's " I Don't Care If the Sun Don't Shine" and noticed this at the beginning of the song. She is convinced that there is a musical term for this. Any takers?

I like 'em big when they're inside me

Christ, what an asshole — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 11:49:44 -0800

Help me find music that makes me feel small and insignificant. Here's one sample of exactly what I'm looking for.

There's elements of shoegaze, post-rock, electronic, and experimental music up in that mix. Those styles are easy enough to come by, but combining them all with MELODY is the key.

I'm talking GRAND, EPIC, SWEEPING, FLOORING melodies here; I want songs that make me their bitch.

A list-off of bands is NOT what I'm looking for.

1. Songs.
2. MELODY MELODY MELODY
3. Annihilation.

More examples:
1 2 3 4 5

Yo dawg, I herd u like the perfect chord.

allen.spaulding — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:27:20 -0800

Examples/terminology for media so compelling it drives you insane. I'm looking for fictional representations of media so engrossing that it drives users crazy. Obvious examples that come to mind are Infinite Jest and Arthur C Clarke's The Ultimate Melody. I'm not sure if there's a term for this trope, but the key fact is that the media/text itself must be so compelling that it causes an individual's mind to break down.

I'm not looking for examples of overall obsession or the existence of some text that can drive someone crazy, such as Snow Crash. The focus is perfection->crazymaking. Aronofsky's Pi is close as well.

So what's this called? Any other examples? Will I go nuts when I read your answer?

Cerebral Psychosomatic Scramble Stasis

Christ, what an asshole — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:27:14 -0800

Looking for specific songs that have a very particular, idiosyncratic quality to them... The quality I'm looking for can best be described as ... a sublime mind fuck. A very particular sound quality that makes the eyes flicker and the mind reel. It's an instrumentally guitar-heavy characteristic with ample amounts of foot pedal action, usually heavy distortion and feedback, with a windfall of melody comprised of high frets on the neck of the guitar.

I know it sounds somewhat confusing what I'm looking for here, so I made a little sample compilation: mp3

Songs used:

Paik - Tinsel and Foil
The Voom Blooms - Aeroplanes at 3am
Cecilia::Eyes - Shiftkill
The Radio Dept. - The City Limit
Ceremony - Old
Moving Mountains - Cover the Roots, Lower the Stems
Mahogany - Domino Ladder Beta
M83 - Gone
The Bridal Shop - Spectrum of Clarity
Have a Nice Life - I Don't Love
Cut City - Just Pornography
Asobi Seksu - Red Sea
Bitcrush - Drop Entitled
Stars - A Thread Cut With a Carving Knife
Port-Royal - Anya-Sehnsucht (Dedo Remix)

So you can kind of get the impression that I'm looking for surging, pulsating, ethereal, engrossing, hypnotic songs with a certain shrillness to the melody.

....

Anyway, things I'm not looking for include genre or band suggestions. I'm looking for specific songs, because this particular quality is rare to come across, but means the world to me.

My last.fm page and music blog if you need a frame of reference.

What melody is this?

Drama Penguin — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:20:58 -0800

There is something very familiar in the intro vocal melody of this song: Marble House by The Knife. What song is this melody referencing? The lyrics that I am specifically asking about are:
I cut your nails
And comb your hair
I carry you
Down the stairs

Wring music? How hard can it be?

grumblebee — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 08:33:27 -0800

Can I learn to create melodies? I love music, but I can't play an instrument. I can't read music. I don't understand the first thing about music theory. Though my life contains plenty of music listening, I've always been sad that it doesn't contain any music making.

I know that music-making is a hard thing to take up, especially for a middle-aged guy, but I have an impulse to make it even harder for myself: I want to compose. While -- in my wildest dreams -- I'd like to compose symphonies, I know that's not even close to realistic. I'd be overjoyed if I could gain the skill to compose "simple" melodies. Not for fame and fortune -- just to amuse myself and to learn a little about what it's like to "be on the inside" of music.

My guess is that even this is a pipe dream. Is it? One thing I've always wondered is whether people who come up with songs had melodic ideas before they ever learned about the mechanics of music -- just like someone might make up a story without knowing anything about the mechanics of writing. I certainly know of plenty of people, like The Beatles and Charlie Chaplin, who had melodic ideas without knowing how to read music. But what about people who have never even played an instrument?

I've never had an original song pop into my head -- or even a snippet of melody. Even if I learned how to read music and play an instrument, is there any reason to believe I'd be able to write music? I understand that to write music WELL, you have to be gifted. But is it more binary than that? Do you either have it or you don't? Can you become a music creator -- even just a so-so one -- by learning some mechanics?

(By the way, I know there are all sorts of looping programs out there. I've played with them. They don't interest me. I want to create original melodies. I don't want to mix a bunch of riffs and beats together.)

So have any of you ever go from having zero musical ideas to having some musical ideas? If so, what brought you from point A to point B?

Help Identifying Melody Prior to Tolling of Bells?

WCityMike — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 07:24:49 -0800

In many places throughout the country, you often hear a eight-note melody played prior to church bells tolling the hour. Can you help me identify it? I used this online keyboard to try to suss out what the notes were, and they appear to be:

high C, G sharp, B flat, F, then a pause, then F, B flat, high C, G sharp

Or, it may be:

G, D sharp, F, low C/C sharp, pause, low C/C sharp, F, G, D sharp

I seem to remember somewhere in the back of my mind that it's a portion of a hymn. Does anyone know what the origin of this short melody is?

Also, any place where I can find sound files (of any sort, WAV, MIDI, etc.) -- preferably clean ones without tons of background noise? I have a Mac preference pane which will play a sound file on the quarter-hour, half-hour, hour, etc., and I'd like to use this ...

Have ears, have brain, willing to learn.

Chris4d — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:00:53 -0800

Where can I learn about music history and music theory for free? bonus question first (like dessert for breakfast!): contemporary popular music typically seems to resolve the melody at the end of each verse. I was listening to the cold mountain soundtrack, though, and a lot of that folk music sorta... leaves the melody hanging at the end of each verse. Is there a word for that? What's it called, and what's the historical evolution of... I dunno, melodic form?

Obviously I know just enough to know I'm ignorant. So the question above inspired me to ask -- where can I learn about that kind of stuff? I don't whether to call it music theory or music etymology or what, but it's fascinating.

ooh, second bonus question -- why does modern music sound so much more resolved at the end of each verse? does it go back to the tonic of whatever scale the melody is in? (see I really am ignorant! help!)

Melodies that use the same note many many times in a row?

23skidoo — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 12:48:24 -0800

I'm looking for songs that have melodies that use the same note many, many times in a row, like Ca Plane Pour Moi. I'm not looking for songs featuring people who speak-sing, or rap or scream. I'm not looking for songs that have melodies with only 3 or 2 different notes in them. It has to be a song with a melody where one note gets repeated alot (more than say, Jingle Bells). Do you know any?

What melody is being referenced at 2:38 into Sufjan Stevens' song "Come on! Feel the Illinoise!"?

k7lim — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 03:58:47 -0800

What melody is being referenced at 2:38 into Sufjan Stevens' song "Come on! Feel the Illinoise!"? I could swear this is exactly the tune from another famous song.

Name that tune!

ZenMasterThis — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 10:52:31 -0800

Can anyone identify this melody? (350 kB .WAV, whistled here) In my head I can hear male vocalists and "metal lite" guitar chords. I think it may be the chorus of some popular anthem from within the past year or so. But if it isn't, I have plans for it!

Why do I favour some names of notes in the chromatic scale over their other names?

goodnewsfortheinsane — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 13:53:18 -0800

MusicianFilter: Why do I favour some names of notes in the chromatic scale over their other names? To me, when mentioning the 'black' notes in the chromatic scale in speech, they're always:

C# - Eb - F# - G# - Bb

and never:

Db - D# - Gb - Ab - A#

My question is two-fold:

1) Why do you think this is?
2) Do you have/do this as well?

Please also state which is your primary instrument. Mine is guitar, and I'm wondering if that could have an influence, even if I can't directly tell how. I also play a little piano.

Help expand my music collection!

grumblebee — Tue, 17 Aug 2004 05:38:24 -0800

Following up this question, I want to expand my music collection beyond classical & jazz. I don't know much about music from the 1950s to the present, but I know what I like. Melody is really importand to me. I prefer happy, sad and thoughtful to angry (I don't like "screaming" rock at all). I don't like drum-beat heavy dance music. I prefer the 60's/70's sound (or stuff influenced by it) to really contemporary stuff. Here are some examples of what I like: most Beatles, Simon and Garfunkle, ELO's "Mister Blue Sky", a lot of They Might Be Giants, some Billy Joel ("Piano Man", "Moving Out", "Uptown Girl"), some of The Mommas and the Pappa's, some Aimee Mann, some Carol King, The Beach Boys, and The Roches.

What else would I like?

Musicology: origin of stereotyped "oriental" music

milovoo — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 20:03:45 -0800

Does anyone know the origins of the little melody used in movies, cartoons and old time radio to indicate all things oriental? (i.e. the beginning of "Turning Japanese")