Music Composition DUMmIES

bass register pedals of the organ. The organ is capable of sustaining long

notes, and a lot of organ music takes advantage of this fact.

Figure 8-13 shows an example of a pedal point.

There are a few more obscure names for techniques for moving between

chord tones, such as cambiata, a sort of escape tone that moves in the same

direction as the chord tone. All of the ones we discuss in this chapter can

lend interest, tension, and variety to your chord movements.

You can move any way you like, of course, if it sounds good to you. Now you

know what to call it when you do.

In most of the examples used in this chapter we have stuck to the essence of

the original melody, but you could use the same structural notes and depart

quite a bit from the original, as in Figure 8-13.

One last reminder here is in order: If you massage your melodies with repeti-

tion and the types of techniques that you are comfortable with, and if you

keep a sensitive ear, your melodies will naturally arrive at variations, cli-

maxes, and new themes in just the right way and at just the right time. You’ve

got to roll them around in your head for them to mature and move on, and for

your muse to get a handle on them. Trust this.

Exercises .........................................................................................................

1. Build a musical bridge between your different melodic themes.

Your building materials are rhythm, melody, harmony, and above all,

time. You don’t necessarily have to slam one idea into another. You can

&

&

?

b

b

b

4

4

4

4

4

4

œ œœœ œœ

1 FBb

̇ ̇

̇

̇ ̇

̇

1

̇ ̇

œ.

J

œœ œœ

C Dm

̇ ̇

̇

œœ

œ

Œ

̇ œŒ

œ œ ̇

Bb C

̇ ̇

̇

̇ ̇

̇

̇ ̇

œœÓ

Dm

̇ ̇

̇

Ó

̇Ó

̇ ̇

Bb C

̇ ̇

̇

̇ ̇

̇

w

̇ œŒ

F

..

.

̇ ̇

̇

Œ

̇.

Œ

Figure 8-13:

A pedal

point stays

on a note

until it

resolves

with the

chord.

86 Part II: Melody and Development