Understanding Melody and Rhythm


What's the difference between melody and rhythm?

Melody is the plot, or story, of a song. It's the memorable part that you hum to yourself when you think of the song, and it's the part other people will remember as well. If you think of the theme song to your favorite movie, you are thinking of the melody. Melody is usually played by the lead instrument, or lead vocal, just as the lead storyline of a movie is played by the lead characters.

In a melody-driven song, you write the melody first, then add other tracks that work well with the melody. Songs with lyrics usually use the vocals as the melody line. Most of today's popular music is melody-driven.

The songs "Alaska Sunrise" and "A Perfect Day," which you worked on previously, were melody-based. I wrote and recorded the piano melody first, then added the other instrument parts.

Rhythm is the pulse or heartbeat of the song. Rhythm can be played by one instrument or many different instruments. Rhythm is felt as much as it is heard, and it dictates the pacing of the different instrument parts. Rhythm is usually set by the drums and followed by the other rhythm instruments, such as bass, rhythm guitar, and keyboards. The rhythm of a song may be faster or slower depending on the song's tempo. A slow tempo song might be a ballad with a slow and easy rhythm. A fast tempo song might be a rock song with a driving beat.

In a rhythm-driven song, you create the beats, percussion, or rhythm parts first, then add other instrument parts that fit well with the rhythm. Rhythm-driven songs are often used to score movie trailers (previews), and fast-paced promos or commercials. Rap music is often rhythm-based, but it depends on the song.

The song SpaceBass, which you are building for this lesson, is rhythm-driven. For this piece, I built the rhythm tracks first, and then came up with a melody to fit.




Apple Training Series GarageBand 3
Apple Training Series: GarageBand 3
ISBN: 0321421655
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 134
Authors: Mary Plummer

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