It’s frustrating to see something in your mind without being able to express it properly.
I tweeted that melodies are like the QTEs of music and now I’m in trouble, trying to explain how or from what point of view.
I thought about this analogy because melodies are traditionally what people listening to music, play with. By playing with the music while listening to it I mean letting your mind decipher and enjoy it. Usually, melody is the first thing we get our brains on. People need to be able to connect to a song and for non musicians, non rhythmic people it happens with the melody (and yes, it’s totally a social construct from Great Westernia; melody isn’t that big in Africa for instance).
So, playing with the melody. You just have to follow a series of tones (hence the QTE reference). It’s the easiest way to make that music playing your own. It’s like you are creating a path at the same time that the engine -the body of the music, chords, rhythm, texture- creates this space for you.
If you can harmonize over music instead of following the lead, it means that you virtualize and play in a wider space than when singing a melody. Same way, if you can improvise notes in between a soft melody, it’s more interesting and playful than exclusively follow even a complex series of notes. Same with rhythm that you have to feel and keep, a slightly more complex task than following a melody.
So I thought about melody as a series of QTE, kind of a cool thing to do on top of all the rest of the music’s mechanics. I heard that it’s a game in bars and it’s called karaoke.
With music like jazz though, where there’s virtually no melody, creating one is no QTE anymore.
I’m interested in expression, freedom and creating a space for them. God I’m a sucker for those.