What Happens to Melodies as a Song Progresses?

Here’s a short description of how a melody moves and changes from beginning to end of most songs.

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For those who write songs purely by instinct (and assuming that’s always working for you), you may not be aware that the kind of melody that’s considered a good verse melody is not often the kind that works well for a chorus. And bridge melodies are something different again.

No melody works in isolation, so when we speak of how a melody works, we also need to consider the kind of chords that support it, and the kind of lyric that we typically see.

The following is a little map/chart for how melodies change as a song progresses from beginning to end. No two songs are alike, and this chart is by no means meant to say that if your song isn’t doing this, you’ve done something wrong. But if you look at verse-chorus-bridge songs from pop genres of the past 5-to-6 decades, you’ll see that it often applies:

 Verse Melodies…

1. …often avoid the tonic note (i.e., the note representing the key of your song). The tonic note will usually appear in the middle of a bar, not often on the strong beats (i.e., not often on beats 1 and 3). Example: “Something From Nothing” (Foo Fighters). The verse is in E minor, but the note E never plays a strong role in the melody.
2. …often exhibit a kind of wandering quality, where the tune roams up and down as it seeks to describe the mood and story. That’s not to say that repetition of melodic phrases isn’t an important ingredient, but a verse melody will typically explore more range than a chorus melody. Example: “Demons” (Imagine Dragons).
3. …often start lower and move higher. Because there’s a lot of musical energy that comes from a voice that sings higher in pitch, and because building energy is an important principle of songwriting, it makes sense to move your melody higher as the verse progresses. Example: “Because of You” (Kelly Clarkson, written by Clarkson, David Hodges & Ben Moody), where the melody starts down below middle C, and by the end of the verse as made its way up a full octave.

Chorus Melodies…

1. …often use the tonic note and chord as strong focal points; the chorus melody transmits a lot of musical energy because of that. Example: “Love Me Again” (John Newman, written by Newman and Steve Booker).
2. …often use repetition of a prominent hook as the main component of the chorus melody. Example: “Happy” (Pharrell Williams). And speaking of happy, that’s a kind of quality that’s important in choruses: it’s usually fun to sing a good chorus over and over (sometimes even for 24 hours!)
3. …often sit high in pitch, to build and sustain song energy. Example: “Follow Your Arrow” (Kacey Musgraves, written by Musgraves, Luke Laird & Shane McAnally)

Bridge Melodies…

1. …often exhibit the same wandering quality as verse melodies. Example: “That Girl” (Jennifer Nettles, written by Nettles & Butch Walker)
2. …often move higher to build song energy. Example: “Something” (The Beatles, written by George Harrison)

And one other optional section to consider: A pre-chorus melody is placed between the verse and chorus, and helps to make a better connection between a short verse melody and the chorus. In general, a pre-chorus melody will do what longer verses do: start lower and move higher. There’s no rule about how long a pre-chorus should be, but it’s main purpose is to build momentum, often using the dominant (V) chord as a goal, which then connects to the start of the chorus with ease.

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Written by Gary Ewer. Follow on Twitter.

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