Melody in Songwriting (Berklee Guide) (Berklee Guide)

This book is brilliant. It shows you things like how melodies move mainly by step, how the jumps are always quitted by step and what are bad jumps to do and when are the best times to do it in a song - another good thing is he shows you with examples which i found really helpful.
If you already are music literate this will be basic knowledge to you eg. chord progressions of I, II, IV, V, I.
It was basic to me but i've learnt a lot on melody writing which should prove helpful in my music exams.

Never write another bad melody... unless you want to. (5/5 people found this helpful)

I got this book about 5 years ago shortly after it was released. It was the first book specifically dedicated to melody writing that I'd ever read but since then I've read a number of others (including Berklee Press' own Songwriter's Workshop: Melody). I must say, "Melody in Songwriting" is still the best book on the subject that I've seen!

It covers an awful lot of ground and goes into greater depth and detail than many other books on the subject of songwriting. In fact, this is a valuable resource for composers in any style of music, not only songwriters. Granted, beginners will likely feel a little intimidated at first, but I say, 'just reread it again', what you'll learn is more than worth the effort.

Melody in Songwriting includes about half-a-dozen well known songs as examples plus a greater number of unknown but insightful examples. This brings up the books' one weakness, which is that no CD of the examples is included so in order to hear and fully appreciate the given examples you'll need above average music reading and keyboarding skills. Perhaps Berklee Press will consider releasing a CD addendum to this excellent book.

Bottom line; if you read this book and do the exercises, you'll be able to write a reasonably good melody every time you sit down, even without inspiration. Add inspiration and you just may write a great melody.

Never write another bad melody... unless you want to. (2/3 people found this helpful)

Talent and Practice together (7/8 people found this helpful)

Some people believe that composition is a gift, a talent rather than practice. Melody in Songwriting proves that talent is not enough without practice and constant self-development. It teaches you to combine both your inner creative and your hard work. The techniques explained become creative tools to write your music. There are also some tunes extremely well analyzed with great info. It demonstrates the logical development inside the great hits. It is a must have book to improve your songwriting skills.

For people who want the theory behind a hit song (5/6 people found this helpful)

This book is excellent in wanting to know the theoritical music compositions behind a good song. Although at G8 Theory wise with the ABRSM, i still struggled to write what i would consider good melodies. But now the melodies i write now are, i think, much much better. I would advise people with no theory background to not buy it as it does get pretty advanced and they may struggle to understand it. Overall, a really good book and i'm really glad i bought it.

Melody in Songwriting (Berklee Guide) (Berklee Guide)

Jack Perricone

Reader Reviews:

Excellent (0/0 people found this helpful)

Never write another bad melody... unless you want to. (5/5 people found this helpful)

Never write another bad melody... unless you want to. (2/3 people found this helpful)

Talent and Practice together (7/8 people found this helpful)

For people who want the theory behind a hit song (5/6 people found this helpful)

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