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Monday, August 22, 2022

428. THE THEMES VARIATION PATTERN METHOD OF COMPOSING MELODIES. E.G. ONE MELODIC THEME FOR EVERY 15-SYLLABLES POETIC LINE. CYCLES OF MELODIC THEMES.

 This method does not start from the chord progression pattern. Instead it starts from an equally simple pattern which is the pattern of variations of the melodic themes.

In other words if A1 , A2 are the basic melodic themes, and B1, C1, D1 , and B2, C2, D2 , are their variations correspondingly  (modulation-translations, transposition-translations , pitch inversions , rhythmic inversions etc)  then a pattern of the melodic themes variations could be


(A1 B1)  (A1 C1) 

(A2 B2)  (A2 C2) 

  ETC

E.g. this pattern  of melodic themes is of the folk Celtic song Donegal.

Under each melodic theme we put either 1) a single chord 2) a pair of chords 3) a triad of chords 4) four chords etc

Of course same melodic themes (and symbol) require same underlying chords. But the converse is not true. Different melodic themes may still have the same underlying chord. E.g. the mentioned folk celtic song Dionegal with the above melodic themes patterns utilizes only 2 chords D7 and G. 

A1(=G D7)         B1(=D7 G)               C1(=D7 G D7 G) 

A2(=G D7)         B2(=D7 G)               C2(=D7 G D7 G) 

For a 15-sylalbes poetic lyrics, a full 15 syllables  poetic line of total syllables (4+4)+(4+3)=15 would correspond to a single melodic theme A1 , or B1 , C1, A2 etc. and thus here to 2 chords.  This is convenient for the arpeggio-tail method of composing melodies. While the simplicial sub-melody method would require 4 chords per 15-sylalbles poetic line. But these 4 chords could as well be 2 only e.g. in the form 5M7  1M  1M 5M7

We may utilize for a full 15 syllables poetic line harmonic pairs of chords or chromatic pairs of chords that define the modes of a diatonic scale or even melodic pairs of chords


The chromatic airs of chords in the diatonic scale  may get the the names ofthe modes of the scale too

1M-2m=IONIAN
2m-3m=DORIAN
3m-4M=FRYGIAN
4M-5M=LYDIAN
5M-6m=MYXOLYDIAN
6m-7d=AEOLIAN
7d-1M=LOCRIAN

(see also post  364 , 225 and 325  )

It is important also to realize that these 7 pairs of chords in chromatic relation define not only tetrachords but also hexatonic scales (and corresponding harmonicas) as in the post 291.



We may extract pairs of chords that define modes as follows


1. IONIAN  :  HARMONIC pair (5M, 1M)
2. DORIAN  : HARMONIC PAIR ( 6m, 2m)
3. PHRYGIAN : HARMONIC PAIR (7d, 3m)
4. LYDIAN: HARMONIC PAIR  (1M 4M)
5. MIXOLYDIAN: HARMONIC PAIR  (2m, 5M)
6. AEOLIAN: HARMONIC PAIR (3m 6m)
7. LOCRIAN: pseudo HARMONIC PAIR  (4M 7d)

Melodic pairs of chords would be

 1M-3m    IONIAN

2m-4M      DORIAN

3m-5M      FRYGIAN

4M-6m   LYDIAN

5M-7d  MYXOLYDIAN

6m-1M      AEOLIAN

7d-2m     LOCRIAN


The diatonic songs have a subtle balance of happy (major) and sad (minor) compared to chromatic tonality. A good example are the Irish folk songs

A good mix of modes for such songs is a moving melodic  5 cycle in the diatonic harmony. In other words an harmonic  triplet of chords that define the mode plus 2 more intermediate chords with melodic relation to the neighboring chords. E.g.  for the Ionian mode triplet  5M 1M 4M , we interpolate at melodic relations  the 3m (between 5M, 1M)  and 6m (between 1M and 4M) to get the melodic  5 cycle  5M 3m 1M 6m 4M. 

We may compare it with a moving harmonic 5-cycle e.g. 6m 2m 5M 1M 4M

or 3m 6m 2m 5M 1M etc


CYCLES OF MELODIC THEMES AND HAPPINESS.

Each melodic theme eventually is one of the 3 types (polarity). A pitch-vector going up, or going down or staying the same pitch. And one of the best  combination of such melodic themes  is the cycle, and

 1) especially the one that starts from a high pitch goes down and returns back to high pitch as the songs of the birds. 

2) In general up moves of pitch are happy, 

3) also melodic or harmonic intervals (large arpeggio part and small tail in he melodic theme) plus 4) large range melodic themes 

4) and most important  fast rhythm. 


 Diatonic harmonic triads 

(Xn)m->(Xn+1)M->(Xn+2)M     (e.g. 2m7->5M->1M) Myxolidian  harmonic triad

(Xn)m->(Xn+1)m->(Xn+2)m   (e.g. 3m7->6m->2m) Aeolian harmonic triad

(Xn)M->(Xn+1)M->(Xn+2)M     (e.g. 5M7->1M->4M)  Ionian harmonic triad

All of them  are the next

1. IONIAN  :  HARMONIC TRIPLET (5M, 1M, 4M)
2. DORIAN  : HARMONIC TRIPLET (6m, 2m, 5M)
3. PHRYGIAN : HARMONIC TRIPLET (7d, 3m, 6m)
4. LYDIAN: (SEMI) HARMONIC TRIPLET  (1M, 4M, 7d)
5. MIXOLYDIAN: HARMONIC TRIPLET  (2m,5M, 1M)
6. AEOLIAN: HARMONIC TRIPLET (3m,6m, 2m)
7. LOCRIAN: (SEMI) HARMONIC TRIPLET  (4M, 7d, 3m)

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