MELODIC MOTION

'Melodic motion' is the quality of movement of a melody, including nearness or farness of successive pitches or notes in a melody. This may be described as conjunct or disjunct, stepwise or skipwise, respectively.
Bruno Nettl (1956, p.51-53) describes various types of 'melodic movement' or 'contour':

★ Ascending

★ Descending

★ Undulating: equal movement in both of the above directions

★ Pendulum: extreme undulation which uses a large range and large intervals

★ Tile, terrace, or cascading: a number of descending phrases in which each phrase begins on a higher pitch than the last ended

★ Arc

★ Rise: may be considered a musical form, a contrasting section of higher pitch, a "musical plateau"
Other examples include:

★ Double tonic: smaller pendular motion in one direction
These all may be modal frames or parts of modal frames.

Contents

See also

Source

See also

★ Parsons code

Source

★ Nettl, Bruno (1956). ''Music in Primitive Culture''. Harvard University Press.