Melody
A succession of pitches with shape and memory
Related
A melody is a succession of pitches in time, but it is a melody rather than a scale exercise because it has shape: a contour of rises and falls, a mix of steps and leaps, repetition and variation that let a listener remember it, sing it and recognise it.
A melody is not merely "a sequence of pitches": rhythm, phrasing, accent and timbre all belong to its identity. The same pitches in another rhythm can become another melody; the same melody in another orchestration is still the same melody. What matters is recognisability, not the number of notes.
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Sources
- 旋律的轮廓、级进跳进与记忆性，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Melody"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.