GCSE Composition workshop 3 - How to write a melody

by Liz and Tim @HuntSchoolMusic

Teaching the first term of composition at GCSE can be really tricky. It's a delicate balancing act of reinforcing, reassuring and encouraging increasing levels of student autonomy. We've tried all sorts of approaches but it has taken us until now to actually document six of our first term composing workshops. I'm sure we'll have changed our minds in another 9 months...

Workshop 3 is a step by step recipe for the construction of simple melodic lines. Not all musics need a melody - the ostinato workshop proves that - but students prodominantly listen to music where melody plays a central role. In the vast majority of cases there is an obvious connection between a melody and the harmony that supports it, and that's where this workshop begins.