How Can You Tell if Your Melody is Original?

On Nov 28, 2008, at 2:02 AM, Anonymous wrote:

errm Hay....Im frm N.Z on the other side of the world and was wondering...

How can you find out if A melody is already been used but you've totally just made it up on the spot??? I'm just beginning to write my own song and I was unsure if the melody was already in use...

Is it helpful if I listen to all types of music to see if it has been used or... use it any way.. 

Hi New Zealand,

This is a fantastic question.

You don't just want to "use it anyway." If a melody is already part of an existing song, then it belongs to the owner of that song, and is covered by copyright. So if you use their melody for your song, they could in theory sue you for lots of money. Actually, you aren't likely to get sued unless the song you write (with the stolen melody) becomes a big hit.

So, for legal reasons, you should try to make sure your melody is your own, but once you've done your best, don't worry too much about it.

There's another reason to make sure your melody is your own, from a songwriting standpoint, and that is purely a point of pride. Personally, I don't want to re-write somebody else's song. I want my songs to be my own. The whole point of artistic expression is to create something new. 

There are some times though, when using an existing melody is OK and even can be a good thing. For example if you are a beginning songwriter, putting new words to an existing melody can be a fun exercise for learning about song structure. 

Sometimes teachers will write a "piggyback" song, to help teach some facts. That is, they will put new words to a well-known melody, and that makes it easy to tell other teachers how to use the song. For example I could say to other teachers, hey if you need a song about insects, try this, to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" - 

Count their legs and you get six

And they know some nifty tricks

They can fly or walk or crawl

Some can even climb a wall

In their exoskeletons

Insects are a lot of fun

OK, not the greatest lyric ever but you get the idea. You can sing it without written music because it fits a familiar melody. It's also important to note that "Twinkle Twinkle" is in the public domain, that is, it's so old that the copyright on it has expired. You can find lists of songs in the public domain by searching online.

Another type of song written to a familiar melody is the parody. Weird Al Yankovic is the undisputed king of parody. He takes familiar popular songs and changes all the words, so Michael Jackson's "Beat it" becomes "Eat it," just to give one example. In a parody, the original song is being made fun of in some way, so it's important to use the melody of the original song in order to make that connection. The copyright law allows for this, however I hear that Weird Al always asks permission anyway.

So, unless you are doing a songwriting exercise, writing a piggyback song for educational purposes, or writing a parody of an existing song, you want to try to make your melody original - one that never has been heard before.

This can be a challenge. Our brains are filled with all the melodies we've heard since birth. Those melodies are waiting in the wings to jump to mind whenever needed. Sometimes it's hard to tell whether the melody you're singing is one you've just made up, or one that was already stored in there somewhere.

Even two of the Beatles (my favorite band to use as an example) lost law suits for stealing melodies - John Lennon with "Come Together," and George Harrison with "My Sweet Lord." They didn't do it on purpose - they just didn't realize how closely their melodies matched pre-existing songs. When you are that famous, nobody will let you get away with writing a song that sounds like another song!

On the other hand, if you look at it mathematically, it's easy to write a new melody. There are enough different notes and rhythms to choose from that the number of possible melodies is astronomically huge. We haven't even come close to using them all up. There are plenty of melodies to go around for anyone who wants to write original songs.

OK, so how CAN you know whether you made up a new melody, or whether you're humming a tune that's already been used?

That's actually a tough one. As I already pointed out, even some of the greatest songwriters ever have stumbled over it.

What I do first is I ask everyone around me to "name that tune." If I hum a melody for my wife, she is likely to recognize it, if it's one I already know - after all she knows many of the same songs I do. If she doesn't identify the melody, then I try it on my mom. She knows a lot of older songs. If it's really bothering me that the melody sounds familiar I'll ask a few more people, especially people I know who know a lot of songs. 

The more people you ask, if they all say they've never heard it, the more likely it is that you made it up yourself. Because we all carry so many melodies around in our memories, you only need to ask maybe five or six people before you can have a pretty good assurance that the melody is your own. 

When can you stop worrying about it? Of course you can't ever be 100% guaranteed, but once you've made a good solid effort, you've got to move on, otherwise you'd never get a song written. If the melody sounds so familiar to you that you don't trust it, then put the song aside for a while. Come back to it a few months later. Maybe you'll be able to identify the melody then, or maybe it won't sound familiar any more. In the end you have to go with your own gut feeling.

If somebody you sing your melody to says, "Yeah, that sounds like such and such song," then what do you do? This is a good thing, because now you'll find out why it sounds so familiar. Look up that song, listen to it, and see if your melody is the same. If it really is close, then you should consider changing your melody a little here and there to make it different.

I also want to say that I don't go around testing out all my melodies on all my friends. I only test the ones I feel suspicious of. Those are the ones that either just sound familiar, or seem to have popped into my head out of thin air. 

If I work hard inventing a melody to go with certain words I've written, and I revise it as I go, making it really fit the emotional ups and downs my song and the rhythm of my lyrics, then I can be pretty confident that I have invented an original melody. It's back to what I said about the math. There are so many melodies available, that if you work hard at creating one, it's very very very unlikely you'll arrive at the same melody that somebody else did.

But if a melody just pops into your head, you are right to worry. It might be your own, but it's also likely that you heard it somewhere. It's worth investigating to find out! 

Coming back to my favorite source for examples, Paul McCartney was afraid when he wrote "Yesterday" that he had stolen the melody, because he woke up with it in his head. He tried it out on all his friends and bandmates, but nobody had heard it before. As it turns out, it was original, and today it's one of the most famous melodies in the world. So you don't want to give up on a melody right away, just because it may seem familiar.

Finally, I will leave you with a resource that is definitely worth checking out. There is a website called midomi.com where you can sing a melody into your computer's microphone, and it will tell you the name of the song! Of course it can only do this if you sing clearly, and if midomi.com has that song in their database. So I use this website as if it were just one of my friends that I check melodies with. Even if it can't find a melody there, I still ask several other people. It isn't a perfect answer to the problem, but it helps, and it's a lot of fun to play with!

I hope this helps!

Use an Existing Melody to Write a New Melody

Hello Monty,
 
I DO perform at my local church and very often at least once a month we have Gospel Concerts. I have so many different beats.. and I am finding it so hard to get a melody to it! How do I go about that? I have tried all sorts of different melodies from other songs. It could just be me but can you suggest anything?
 
Many Thanks,
 
Elsie



Hi Elsie,

It's not just you - coming up with a melody can be a challenge. Many people feel they can't do it. I remember as a kid, trying to invent a melody, but everything I hummed turned out to be an existing song. Once I broke through that barrier and actually sang my own melody, it became easier and easier to do. Now melodies flow out of me like water. However, it's still often a challenge to find a good melody to match a particular set of words. When I write words first, I almost never settle on a melody right away - I'll try many different ideas until one finally sticks.

It sounds like you have written some words and you want to find a melody to go with them. You've tried all sorts of melodies from other songs, but none of them fit. I'll give you something new to try in a minute. But first, a word or two about using existing melodies.

Using an existing melody from another song is sometimes appropriate. If you make a joke out of the original song, that's called a "parody." Weird Al Yankovic is the master of parody. He took Michael Jackson's song "Beat It" and changed it to "Eat It," making it all about food. More recently he changed the Kink's classic "Lola" to "Yoda!" These songs are funny because the new lyrics resemble the old lyrics, while totally changing the meaning of the song.

But I don't think you're trying to write a parody. Another case where new words get put to an existing melody is what educators call "piggy back" songs. New words can "piggy back" onto a familiar tune in order to help teach a lesson. These songs are easy to share, because all you have to do is say, "Sung to the tune of...", and anybody reading the words will also know how to sing it. Barney (the big purple dinosaur) did this a lot. "I love you, you love me..." is sung to the tune of "This Old Man," for example.

However, melodies are protected by copyright, which means somebody owns them! John Lennon and George Harrison were each famously sued for songs they wrote with melodies that resembled other songs. Copyright law allows for some exceptions, called "fair use." Both parodies and piggy back songs (if they are educational) CAN fall under fair use, although the law is somewhat tricky.

Some melodies are so old that their copyright has expired. Those melodies are in the public domain, which means you can use them. So, make sure that if you do use another song's melody, it's in the public domain. Here is a website that will help you identify which songs are in the public domain: http://www.pdinfo.com/

But, if you are writing an original song, what you really probably want is an original melody to go with it - one you can call your own!

I'm going to give you a crazy suggestion that I think will help you write a melody. I say it's crazy because it seems sort of the opposite of what you've been trying. I've written a song or two this way, and it's a fun exercise.

1. Find a song you really like. You're going to use it as a model. Better yet, have a friend choose a good song for you that you haven't heard. If you are unfamiliar with the melody, that will be an advantage.

2. Copy out the lyrics word for word on paper or on a computer. Make each line of words cover the same number of beats in the song, either four or eight beats per line. (Or three or six... depending on the time signature of the song.)

3. Now put a new piece of paper next to that (or a new window on the computer) and start writing your own song. Chose a totally different topic from your model song, so that you won't be using similar words and ideas.

4. As you write, copy certain things exactly from your model song. This is important! Give your song the same number of lines. In each line use the same number of syllables. Copy the same pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. Copy the rhyme scheme.

Example: "Like a bridge over troubled water" --> change it to "I'm in love with a purple monkey"; that's fine. But don't change it to "I'm in love with a purple antelope" because the number of syllables is wrong (10 instead of 9). And don't change it to "I'm in love with a tangerine tree" because although it has 9 syllables, the stresses are wrong ("-ine/Tree" is unstressed/stressed, where "water" is stressed/unstressed). Make sense?

5. If you find yourself uninspired, then write nonsense. Just focus on the patterns of the syllables and use any words that fit. It's only an exercise after all, and it's really about the melody. You can always fix the words later if you want. But do this quickly now.

6. If you're using a song you know, put your paper away for a couple of weeks, and don't listen to the model song during that time. This way you can come back to the words with a fresh pair of ears.

7. Get your paper out, try to forget the song you copied, and write a new melody for your words. Use a piano, guitar, or just your voice. Sing the words all on one pitch if you have to at first. Try different combinations of long notes and short notes - which words sound better when you hold them out? Have the pitch go up at the end of a line; then try it going down. Just keep singing it until a great melody clicks into place.

I'm guessing that with your new set of words you'll find it much easier to write an original melody. Why? Because these words follow an established pattern that another songwriter has already used to write a melody. If that writer had success with this pattern, so can you.

Once you've enjoyed some success at writing melodies to existing word patterns, go back to the words you wrote that you were having trouble with. By then you'll have some new skills for smoothing out the words and arranging them into a pattern that can support a great melody.

Give it a try, have fun, and good luck!!

Elements of a Melody

Hey Monty,

When ever I come up with a melody, it somehow always sound to.. like childish. Pop and R&B are hot on the market now these days... and I'm aiming for that. Could you please give me some advice???

Phoenica


Hi Phoenica,

Sorry to take so long getting back to you. Actually something I learned at the recent CMN conference reminded me of your question and helped me think how to answer it.

There are basically two elements to a melody: its rhythm and its intervals. If either the rhythm or the intervals (or both) in your melody are too simplistic, the song may come off sounding "childish."

Let's look at intervals first. An interval is how far up or down the pitch moves between two notes. What I learned at the conference was that small children learn to sing certain intervals first. My guess is that songs for very small children use mostly intervals that small children can handle, so melodies using mostly those intervals may sound childish because we are used to hearing them in songs for small children. Another way of looking at it: since our brains learn those intervals first, one could argue that they are the simplest intervals, and songs based on those intervals may sound simplistic.

OK, so what are those intervals and how do you avoid over-using them?

What I learned at the conference was that the interval from ME to SOL is the first one small children can sing. Then they add LA. On a piano keyboard you can hear these intervals by playing E then G then A. Play G G E A G E - does that sound familiar? "A tisket a tasket" or "Nanny nanny boo boo" or "It's raining it's pouring, the old man is snoring." All these follow the same pattern, and it sounds pretty childish.

Expanding on this idea, the major chords are made of simple intervals - thirds and fourths, so perhaps a melody that stays within the major I, III, and IV chords is in danger of sounding childish or simplistic as well. If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't panic. I barely know what I'm talking about myself. This is all music theory. I recommend that you take any chance you get to learn as much music theory as you can, and your writing will become more sophisticated for it.

But as a quick fix, just to get your creativity going, try this. Write a melody using only the black keys on the piano. That will get you playing with some intervals that are more sophisticated, or at least different from those you might be used to.

Look this up on the Internet: pentatonic blues scales. Once you learn a few of those you'll start to incorporate some really cool jazzy intervals into your writing.

Now on to rhythm.

Again, a simplistic rhythm could make your song sound childish. The simplest rhythm would be a line of quarter notes, or a steady beat. "Where is thumbkin, where is thumbkin?" Add in a couple of half notes and you get the Barney song (also known as "This Old Man" to us old-timers): "I love you, you love me, we're a happy family." The rhythm is: quarter quarter half, quarter quarter half, quarter quarter quarter quarter quarter quarter quarter. Yawn.

Again, this is more music theory. But you don't have to know what a quarter note is in order to hear that the rhythm to the Barney song is very simplistic. So how do you spice it up? How do you keep your rhythm interesting and sophisticated? Make it swing, use syncopation, use rests. Vary it up a bit.

First take a look at your lyrics. If the words of the song form a long regular rhythm, then try re-writing it so that you break it up a bit. For example:

"I baked a juicy peach and apple pie, and then I had to shoe away a fly."

It would be really hard to write an interesting or catchy melody for words that follow such a long regular rhythm. Give it a try.

Now try this:

"Hey, fly! Get offa my pie!"

Similar idea but I boiled it down to a few key words. This line has a natural rhythm to it too, but it's a bit more varied and interesting. Try writing a melody for it. Which do you like better?

One more:

"Juicy juicy apple pie. Get away, fly! Get away, fly!"

My point is that if your lyric is stuck in a rut, do a little brainstorming and you'll be able to find a bunch of different ways to vary up the rhythm and make it more interesting, and therefore more sophisticated and less childish.

Finally, some general advice: Listen, listen, listen. Now that I've drawn your attention to intervals and rhythms, go listen to some pop and R&B or whatever you want to write, and pay attention to the way the pitches and rhythms move around. Try to pick up on some new ideas that you can add to your own writing.

Have fun, and I hope this helps!

Writing Melody

Dear Monty,

I read your article on song writing, the thing is I can write the lyrics, I put all my heart and soul into them but it is the tunes I get stuck on, I really like music and would love to be in the music business one day, whether it's managing or as the act, but I'd like to. Do you have any tips on writing the music for songs? I usually sing along as I am writing but they tend to be boring and all the variations are the same, I really need some help as I think I have some pretty good lyrics that need music for them.

Yours sincerely, Jayne


Thanks for the question, Jayne - I hope this helps...

I remember when I was very young, trying to come up with an original melody. Every tune that came out of my mouth belonged to a song I already knew. I just couldn't force my brain into a new pattern and hum something that hadn't been sung before.

Once the idea occurred to me that I should be able to write a new melody, I became a little obsessed with trying. I kept at it and it didn't take too long to actually do it. I think I started by switching melodies in the middle of a song, like humming one line from "Yankee Doodle" then suddenly switching to part of "Mary Had a Little Lamb." This helped shake things up a bit and opened up new possibilities to my musical mind. By adding more little changes and variations I eventually landed on a melody that was all my own.

These days my brain is practically a melody-writing machine. I can start singing any time and guarantee an original creation. Usually the melodies I come up with are interesting and catchy - some more so than others of course. I'm almost never at a loss for a melody when I write lyrics. (Sometimes it takes a little more work than others, though.)

Anyhow, I'm not just bragging - my point is that I believe melody writing is a skill that you can learn. It takes experience and practice - like so many things, the more you do it the better you get at it. Sure there are some melodic geniuses out there (Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson, ...) who seem to have extra talent just built in. You may never write melodies as great as some of theirs, but you can certainly improve your current abilities, no matter who you are.

In a moment I'll suggest some things you can do right away to make up a melody.


Building Your Chops Over Time

But first, what do you need to do every day to become a great melody writer later on? Listen and learn! Listen to all kinds of music every chance you get. And learn to play an instrument.

Then learn your favorite songs on your instrument. Even if you are a beginner, you can pick out a melody on the piano. Just try until you figure out how to make it sound right.

If you don't play an instrument yet, hum songs without singing the words.

When you listen to or play a melody, notice how patterns repeat and how they change. Notice when the notes go up or down. Do they jump way up, or skip just a little? Notice how the rhythms change or repeat. Soak it all in.


Legos

By the way, some writers are afraid that if they listen to other people's songs, their own songs will come out sounding too much like something that's already out there. I disagree. Any new song is made of bits and pieces of other songs.

Imagine you have a big box of Legos. Some of the pieces came from a Star Wars set, and some from a pirate ship set. But you take those sets apart, dump the pieces together and use them to build a dinosaur. The more different sets you dump into your box and mix around, the more interesting things you can build out of the various parts.

Well, the big box is your brain, and the different Lego sets are the songs you know! The more songs you hear and/or learn, the more great new melodies your brain will be able to create out of all the bits and pieces.


Try These Ideas Now

But don't worry, if your Lego box is pretty empty at this point in life you can still write a great melody. We'll assume you've got words and you're working on a melody for your song.

(Of course you could write music first then words, but if you are new at writing melody, it will probably be easier to write words first.)

Here are a few things to try right now to help you write a melody:

-> Get a tape recorder (or a digital recorder) and use it! Don't worry about anyone else hearing your work - keep your tapes secret if you want. But use the recorder to listen back to yourself. It helps a lot. Really. I will mention it several times below. Because it helps. Really. Trust me!

-> Talk it out. Speak the words to your song out loud several times through. Try to say them with feeling, as if you are reading lines for a play. Record yourself and listen back. Unless you talk like a robot, you will hear the pitch of your voice go up and down as you speak. Is there almost a melody there already? You can bring it out by mimicking your voice with an instrument - try to play your words the way you spoke them on a piano or guitar. Remember your voice is an instrument, too - try singing along the same pattern you spoke the words.

-> Use an instrument. If you play an instrument, use it to work out a melody. I like to use guitar because I can play chords and sing at the same time. But any instrument will work. (If you have to use your mouth to play your instrument, then sing the words along in your head while you play.) Just try different things until you find a melody that works.

-> Groove to a beat. Just about any "toy" keyboard you can buy these days comes with built-in beats. If you have a keyboard like that, play a beat that most closely fits your song. Adjust the tempo (speed) so that it's comfortable. (Try it slow at first - speed up if needed later.) Record yourself while you sing along and see what happens.

-> Change your instrument. If you usually write with a particular instrument, and your melody is coming out boring or too familiar, then put that instrument down and use a different one - or maybe just use your voice instead. Sometimes this happens to me - I play the same old chords on my guitar and it just isn't helping me think of a new melody. Any other instrument I pick up, even if I don't know how to play it very well, will lead me to a new melody I might not have otherwise come up with.

-> Use trial and error. Take one line from your song (I like to start with the most important line - maybe the first or last line of the chorus) and sing it as many different ways as you can come up with. Change something each time, and record yourself. Then listen back and see what you like or don't like. Here are some things to try changing: Change which word gets the most emphasis; Hold different words out longer, or sing them really short; Add empty space between some words; Repeat some words; Try singing on one pitch, or note, for as many words as you can before it just has to change; Make the pitch go up after the first word, then try going down instead; Try making different words land on the highest pitch, then the lowest.

Keep it up until you get a melody you really like. Usually once I get one line to really sound great, the next line and the next follow pretty easily. Sing the second line the same way, or the same way but at a higher pitch, or with the same rhythm but a different melody. Before long you'll have the whole song figured out.

-> Make the verse and chorus different. Once you figure out how to sing the chorus, make sure you sing the verses differently so your song will be interesting to hear. Change at least one thing as you go from verse to chorus or chorus to verse. For example you might change from long slow notes to short fast ones, or change from lines that go up in pitch to lines that stay the same or go down.

-> Revise! As you try these different things, remember that you can always change the words, too. If there is a word or two that doesn't fit well, or is hard to sing, change them to something that fits better. I often end up changing my words quite a bit as I start to fit them to a melody - it's kind of a back and forth process.

-> Don't force it! As you try different melodies using the suggestions above, pay attention to how you pronounce your words. Make sure you don't end up singing a word with the wrong emphasis. Otherwise your listeners will have a hard time understanding you. For example, if you are singing the word "dinosaur" make sure it sounds like "DINE - o - sore" and not "dine - O - sore."

-> Emphasis the right words. As you write your melody, consider which words are most important and make sure those words are brought out by the music. For instance if you sing "I took my DOG for a WALK" that's really clear. "Dog" and "Walk" get the most attention and even if that's all the listener hears, they will get the idea. But if you sing "I TOOK my dog FOR a walk" you run the risk the listener will hear "Took" and "For" but miss the word "dog" - and therefore have no clue what you're singing about.

Even if they hear "dog" they might wonder why the word "for" is so important. Of course people don't really think about such things when they're listening to a song. But when you're listening your brain is processing the information and these thoughts happen without you even knowing it. You might just be left with the feeling that the song didn't make much sense, but you don't know why.

You don't believe me? Try it yourself. Sing "I took my DOG for a WALK" and then sing "I TOOK my dog FOR a walk." Which one sounds better? I rest my case.

Hey, you just made up two different melodies! You're getting the idea! Now go try it with your own songs!

Have fun!