Music Video Lesson: Does Music Need to Have Melody?

Hi, this is livingpianos.com. I'm Robert Estrin. The subject today is, does music have to have melody? When you think of almost any music, the first thing you think about is the melody. Now, what is melody? Melody is comprised essentially of two elements, pitch and rhythm, and together they form songs and tunes and melodies. Some of the most beautiful music that we know and love are based upon melodies, for example, Chopin's, any of his nocturnes, but I'm going to play his most famous nocturne in E flat, just the beginning, to show you the beauty of a melody and how we think of melody as music, as synonymous. Listen to this.

That's an example of a gorgeous melody. There are a whole book of nocturnes, one more beautiful melody than the next. Another good example of melody that you are all familiar with, the gorgeous second movement of Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata.

Beautiful, lush melodies, that you can really feel the emotion. The question of whether music has to have melody is a very interesting one. I'm going to now play for you something that I improvised last night on my grand piano, another melodic exploration for you. I hope you enjoy this.

That's another example of melody in music. Does music have to have melody? The answer is no, there are whole other genres of music. Now, the vast majority of the music that we all know and love is based upon melody. Now, why is this? Well, you think about music throughout the millennia. Most music was never written down or recorded and was not played on any particular musical instrument. It was the human voice, because the human voice has been with humanity as long as humans have roamed this planet, which is why it is so close to us. The imitation of the human voice in wind instruments and bowed instruments is pretty obvious, yet we can also evoke that same quality of a singing line on a keyboard instrument, because it's very close to us, it's in our biology, it's in our DNA. But there is a whole other genre of music.

Now, other types of music that could have been around in primitive times are rhythmically-based music that are devoid of melody, percussion instruments. In fact, African rhythms have permeated Western music since the introduction of jazz. This is the combination of Western harmonies along with African rhythms, which is very compelling. Now, does it have to have melody? Well, not all music has melody. Many offshoots of jazz, particularly rap, hip hop, can be devoid of melody to some extent or entirely and still we have musical context.

Another example in the classical world is minimalism. Listen to Reich and listen to John Adams and Philip Glass, and you'll hear music that has textures. It does have pitch, but not necessarily melody. When you think of a melody, you think of a line, a rise and a fall, just like the human breath. Yet, there are some great music that does not utilize this aspect.

While the vast majority of music you think of is based upon melody, melody having pitch as well as rhythm, some music can just be rhythmically-based and still offer rich possibilities. These are some of my reflections for you today on melody. Melody is vitally important in the vast majority of music, and we all love some of the greatest melodies that are really dear to our heart. They speak to us in a visceral way because it's part of our DNA. Throughout history and prehistory, melody has been with us and I hope it stays with us for a long time.

Thanks so much for joining me again. I'm Robert Estrin. This is livingpianos.com, your online piano resource. Lots of videos here. I welcome you to subscribe and ring the bell for more. We've got premium content for you on my Patreon channel. Thanks so much for joining me, we'll see you next time.

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