BUILD A BETTER MELODY

Course Description

This colloquium is about learning to write a successful melody: one that is memorable, coherent, and meaningful. Through the colloquium, we are going to approach melodies in a variety of ways to both keep interest in the subject and to bring in multiple perspectives on the subject.

But ultimately, the colloquium has one main goal: by the end of the colloquium, each of us can write a successful melody without thinking of the theory. First of all, we'll be writing lots of melodies. Secondly, the goal is for you to be able to write successful melodies without needing to think of the theory by the time you leave this colloquium. That means lots of practice.

The colloquium is not, however, meant to stress that one style of music or one style of writing is better than the other. It is rather to give you the tools needed to write the melodies you want to write.

Of course, simply learning how to write a successful melody isn't good enough on its own, so at the end we are then going to look at ways in which to incorporate melodies into entire pieces.

This is a student-led colloquium that will be led by Nick Mazuk under the supervision of Leslie Hogan.