Year 10 - Music
Creating a musical melody
Free composition: Creative starting points
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Unit Summary
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Lesson Summary
You will learn to explore creative processes to compose short melodies as starting points for free compositions.
Key Notes
- Good melodies use some repetition and have a distinctive shape and can use conjunct and disjunct intervals.
- Melodies all have rhythm. There are a variety of rhythmic choices that can be used to reflect the character of a melody.
- A melody can be expressive with appropriate tempo, dynamics and articulation.
Vocabulary To Learn
- disjunct: Movement by leaps in a melodic line is disjunct.
- conjunct: Conjunct describes movement by steps in a melodic line eg. tones and semitones.
- interval: An interval is the distance between two notes.
- articulation: Articulation is how the note is played eg. legato, staccato or accented.
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Using disjunct intervals in a melody means the notes can be placed anywhere.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
Good melodies use some repetition and have a distinctive shape and can use conjunct and disjunct intervals. Melodies all have rhythm. There are a variety of rhythmic choices that can be used to reflect the character of a melody.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'disjunct'
Movement by leaps in a melodic line is disjunct.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: Using disjunct intervals in a melody means the notes can be placed anywhere. Correction: Disjunct intervals need a sense of order to the music and should be used in some sort of pattern in the same way that conjunct intervals should.
More Lessons In This Unit
Browse all guides in the Year 10 Music guide library.