Melody, Rhythm and Harmony

What is a melody?

A melody is a sequence of musical notes of different pitches that forms the basic musical piece.

Simply put, when you hear a song and hum it, what you are humming is the melody of the song.

Using the popular nursery rhyme "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and the piano widget, try this:

Z-Z-B-B-N-N-B
V-V-C-C-X-X-Z
B-B-V-V-C-C-X
B-B-V-V-C-C-X
Z-Z-B-B-N-N-B
V-V-C-C-X-X-Z

This is the melody of the music. Noticed different notes being played produces different pitches.

Pitch is just how our ears perceived the highs and lows of a sound. Not to be confused with the fundamental "frequency" of a note as our ears could also perceived overtones or harmonics in a note (most noticeable in string and wind instruments).

A better, more eloquent and in-depth definition of melody can be found here

What is rhythm?

Rhythm is the timing of musical notes, the basic flow or pulse of a piece of music. Changing the rhythm in musical piece will change the feel of the music itself.

Simply put, rhythm is the time element of music.

Not to be confused with tempo which is the beats per minute (bpm) measurement of the pace or speed of a piece of music. If you played the above "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" faster (or slower), you are only changing the tempo of the music.

Using the same "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" tune, now try typing this:

Z-B-B-Z-B-B-N-N-N-B
V-C-C-V-C-C-X-X-X-Z
B-V-V-B-B-V-C-C-C-X
B-V-V-B-B-V-C-C-C-X
Z-B-B-Z-B-B-N-N-N-B
V-C-C-V-C-C-X-X-X-Z

The rhythm now has a more upbeat sort of "waltz" feel while still maintainig the overall melody of the song.

Using pop music to illustrate further. Here is the very popular 80's song "Wouldn't It Be Good" originally written and performed by Nik Kershaw and its cover by a German eurodance group known as 'Cascada'.

The original is a pop song with a melody that sticks in the head given time, while the cover has a faster dance rhythm.


Nik Kershaw "Wouldn't It Be Good"


Cascada cover of "Wouldn't It Be Good"

Rhythm could also be found in natural surroundings-the raindrops falling, handclaps, ticking clocks.

A better, more eloquent and in-depth definition of rhythm (which also explain measures and beats) can be found here

What is harmony?

Harmony is the sound (or music) our ears perceived when more than one pitch of the sound (or music) is heard at the same time. It is one of the basic elements that provide 'texture' to music.



A better definition can again be found here.

Harmony is not confined to only layers of backing vocals in singing ala say, Boyz II Men, or the painstakingly rich, multi-layered vocals of Enya. It could be created by musical instruments like guitars, keyboards or saxophone for example.

Enya's layered vocals: