melody

musical sounds; harmony; tune; song
Not to be confused with:malady – illness; affliction; complaint: He had a chronic malady that sapped all of his energy.; any undesirable or disordered condition: a social malady

mel·o·dy

M0208500 (mĕl′ə-dē)n. pl. mel·o·dies 1. A pleasing succession or arrangement of sounds.2. Musical quality: the melody of verse.3. Music a. A rhythmically organized sequence of single tones so related to one another as to make up a particular phrase or idea.b. Structure with respect to the arrangement of single notes in succession.c. The leading part or the air in a composition with accompaniment.4. A poem suitable for setting to music or singing.

[Middle English melodie, from Old French, from Late Latin melōdia, from Greek melōidiā, singing, choral song : melos, tune + aoidē, song; see wed- in Indo-European roots.]

melody

(ˈmɛlədɪ) n, pl -dies1. (Music, other) music a. a succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence; tuneb. the horizontally represented aspect of the structure of a piece of music. Compare harmony^4b2. sounds that are pleasant because of tone or arrangement, esp words of poetry[C13: from Old French, from Late Latin melōdia, from Greek melōidia singing, from melos song + -ōidia, from aoidein to sing]

mel•o•dy

(ˈmɛl ə di)

n., pl. -dies. 1. musical sounds in agreeable succession or arrangement. 2. a rhythmical succession of musical tones organized as a distinct phrase or sequence of phrases. [1250–1300; Middle English melodie < Medieval Latin melōdia < Greek melōidía (choral) singing =mel- (see melic) + -ōid- (see ode) + -ia -y³] mel′o•dy•less, adj.

melody

grace note - An extra note for embellishment, not necessary for the harmony or melody.
absolute music, abstract music, pure music - Absolute music (abstract music, pure music) is music for its own sake—concerned only with structure, melody, harmony, and rhythm.
air - An expressive succession of musical sounds—a melody or tune.
melody - From Greek melos, "song," its early sense was "sweet music."

Melody

of harpers: harpists collectively—Bk. of St. Albans, 1486.

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	melody - a succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence; "she was humming an air from Beethoven"melodic line, melodic phrase, tune, strain, air, linetucket, fanfare, flourish - (music) a short lively tune played on brass instruments; "he entered to a flourish of trumpets"; "her arrival was greeted with a rousing fanfare"glissando - a rapid series of ascending or descending notes on the musical scaleroulade - (music) an elaborate run of several notes sung to one syllablemusic - an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous mannerleitmotif, leitmotiv - a melodic phrase that accompanies the reappearance of a person or situation (as in Wagner's operas)theme song - a melody that recurs and comes to represent a musical play or moviesignature tune, theme song, signature - a melody used to identify a performer or a dance band or radio/tv programmelodic theme, musical theme, theme, idea - (music) melodic subject of a musical composition; "the theme is announced in the first measures"; "the accompanist picked up the idea and elaborated it"part, voice - the melody carried by a particular voice or instrument in polyphonic music; "he tried to sing the tenor part"musical phrase, phrase - a short musical passage
	2.	melody - the perception of pleasant arrangements of musical notestonal patternmusical perception - the auditory perception of musical sounds

melody

noun1. tune, song, theme, refrain, air, music, strain, descant, MLOD (S.M.S.) an easy melody with a frenetic beat2. tunefulness, music, harmony, musicality, euphony, melodiousness, MLOD (S.M.S.) Her voice was full of melody.

melody

nounA pleasing succession of musical tones forming a usually brief aesthetic unit:air, aria, strain, tune.Obsolete: note.

Translations

旋律曲调主调

melody

(ˈmelədi) – plural ˈmelodies – noun1. a tune. He played Irish melodies on the harp. 曲调，旋律 2. the principal part in a piece of harmonized music. The sopranos sang the melody, and the other voices added the harmony.主调meˈlodic (-ˈlo-) adjective of melody. a melodic style. 旋律的，有旋律的 meˈlodious (ˈlou-) adjective pleasing to the ear; tuneful. melodious tunes.悦耳的meˈlodiously adverb悦耳地meˈlodiousness noun悦耳

melody

→ 旋律zhCN

melody

melody,

succession of single tones of varying pitch. Melody is the linear aspect of music, in contrast to harmony, the chordal aspect, which results from the simultaneous sounding of tones. Melody must be considered with rhythmrhythm,
the basic temporal element of music, concerned with duration and with stresses or accents whether irregular or organized into regular patternings. The formulation in the late 12th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. ; they are the two necessary elements to music. Melody by itself, i.e., monophonic music, was the principal form of composition in Western cultures before the year 1000. It remains in folk songfolk song,
music of anonymous composition, transmitted orally. The theory that folk songs were originally group compositions has been modified in recent studies. These assume that the germ of a folk melody is produced by an individual and altered in transmission into a
..... Click the link for more information. and in many non-Western cultures. From 1000 melody was combined with one or more different melodies. The polyphonic music thus created dominated composition until about 1600 when homophonic music, melody supported by harmonies, was developed in Italy and slowly spread throughout Europe in the following century. See polyphonypolyphony
, music whose texture is formed by the interweaving of several melodic lines. The lines are independent but sound together harmonically. Contrasting terms are homophony, wherein one part dominates while the others form a basically chordal accompaniment, and monophony,
..... Click the link for more information. and harmonyharmony,
in music, simultaneous sounding of two or more tones and, especially, the study of chords and their relations. Harmony was the last in the development of what may be considered the basic elements of modern music—harmony, melody, rhythm, and tone quality or timbre.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Melody

according to I. V. Sposobin, the expression in one voice of a musical idea. Melody is “the most essential aspect of music” (S. S. Prokofiev), its simplest and primary form, and its main element, which incorporates the expressive effects of many other elements. The term has a number of basic meanings. It refers to a succession of musical tones forming an entity. Melody is a line, as opposed to harmony, or a chord, which consists of tones sounded simultaneously. “Melody”may mean the main voice, as in the expressions “melody and accompaniment”and “melody and bass.”It may also designate a meaningful, imagistic wholeness—a focus of musical expressiveness. Melody, proper, is a “musical idea.”

Melody has retained traces of its primordial link with speech, poetry, and dance movement. Like speech, it appeals to a listener with the aim of affecting him, and it uses sounds. The expressiveness of a melody depends on a certain emotional tone and on various expressive means that it shares with speech, including pitch, rhythm, volume, tempo, and nuances in timbre. The dynamics of changes in these expressive means also affects the expressiveness of a melody. “Speech and purely musical intonation are branches of one and the same stream” (B. V. Asaf’ev). However, unlike speech, melody uses tones of fixed pitch that are arranged in steps, or musical intervals. The tones of a melody have harmonic structure, as well as a special type of rhythmic organization.

Melody has many components. Because it is possible to concentrate in a single melodic line the action of a scale, harmony, meter, rhythm, and logical ties between parts of a composition, melody dominates other elements of music. The rich complex of all these elements of music in one voice is perceived as melody.

The melodic line is the most specific component of melody. Its rise and fall can be interpreted as a reflection of changes in the state of mind engendering the melody. Thus, upward motion is associated with an upsurge of emotions, and downward motion, with a quietening. The structure of melody is based on the interaction of the purposeful motion of a stream of sounds with the pitch, meter, rhythm, and structural conditions of its setting. The natural interaction between the energy of the line and the direction of melodic motion determines the most ancient model of melody, the descending line that begins with a high tone (“the peak is the source,”according to L. A. Mazel’) and ends with a downward movement or a drop to a lower foundation. However, strictly onward motion is considered primitive and has little aesthetic appeal. Ornamentation of the motion, which veils its complexities and moments of contrast, makes a melody artistically interesting. The tones of the melodic trunk acquire branches, whose outlines impart flexibility, richness, and aesthetic expressiveness to the whole.

The true source and inexhaustible treasury of melody is folk music. Old peasant melodies, whose appeal lies in their stately, epic clarity and depth of feeling, are a most valuable part of Russian folk music.

The melodies of the Gregorian chant, as opposed to the ancient chant, is characterized by the renunciation of dance movement and by concentration on the meaning of the text, on lofty meditation. The rhythmic system is not rigid and depends on the articulation of the text.

Typologically, ancient Russian singing is parallel to the Western Gregorian chant, but in intonation it is radically different. Melodies by the ancient Russian masters are a valuable part of the Russian cultural heritage.

Modern European (including Russian) melodies (up to the 20th century) has been based not on ancient modes (as was medieval melodies) but on the major-minor system. Aesthetically, the melodies of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Wagner, Glinka, Tchaikovsky, and Mussorgsky aimed at a more complete revelation of the human personality, the individual.

Twentieth-century melodies is extremely diverse, drawing on the archaic forms of the most ancient folk music (I. F. Stravinsky, B. Bartok) or using the techniques of the newest systems of musical composition (A. Webern, K. Stockhausen, P. Boulez, E. V. Denisov, A. G. Shnitke, and R. K. Shchedrin, for example).

REFERENCES

Shishov, I. “K voprosu ob analize melodicheskogo stroeniia.” Muzykal’noe obrazovanie, 1927, nos. 1-2, 3-4.
Toch, E. Uchenie o melodii, Moscow, 1928. (Translated from German.) Beliaeva-Ekzempliarskaia, S., and B. lavorskii. Struktura melodii. Moscow, 1929.
Kurt, E. Osnovy linearnogo kontrapunkta. Moscow, 1931. (Translated from German.)
Mazel’, L. O melodii. Moscow, 1952.
Uspenskii, N. Drevnerusskoe pevcheskoe iskusstvo, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1971.
Riemann, H. Neue Schule der Melodik. Hamburg, 1883.
Schenker, H. Neue musikalische Theorien und Phantasien, 2nd ed., vol. 3, Vienna-Zurich-London, 1956.
Szabolcsi, B. Bausteine zu einer Geschichte der Melodie. Budapest, 1959.

IU. N. KHOLOPOV

melody

Musica. a succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence; tune b. the horizontally represented aspect of the structure of a piece of music

Melody

(dreams)Hearing sounds in your dreams can be looked at from a spiritual point of view. Nice sounds are usually positive symbols. Some may say that in your dream state you have traveled to other higher and more spiritual plains. Traditional interpretations tell us that if you hear a familiar melody, you may bump into old friends. Psychologically speaking, you may have heard a song during the day and in your dream state you are simply replaying it. However, since dreams always have meaning, the song that you are dreaming about may have messages in it that will assist you in solving a problem or will help you to feel better.

melody

melody

mel·o·dy

melody

mel•o•dy

melody

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Melody

REFERENCES

melody

Melody

melody

Synonyms for melody

noun tune

Synonyms

noun tunefulness

Synonyms

Synonyms for melody

noun a pleasing succession of musical tones forming a usually brief aesthetic unit

Synonyms

Synonyms for melody

noun a succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence

Synonyms

Related Words

noun the perception of pleasant arrangements of musical notes

Synonyms

Related Words