Composing Melodies

There is a video on YouTube where the Mary Poppins tune "Chim Chim Cher-ee" is played using a pencil.  I've been using the sound a biro makes when writing numbers on a piece of A4 paper to create melodies for years, so I thought I'd share the method. I don't know if it will work for anyone else - let me know - but I have managed to "scratch the itch" I had to write a few good songs I'm chuffed with.

Brief Overview

I pick four numbers (between 0 and 9), and write them on the piece of paper, and I write the numbers  in varying sizes (Loosely the sizes are: very small (normal writing size), small, medium, and large). I focus on the sound made, and try to pick out an original melody in the sound. (I might have to rewrite over the numbers a few times!)

The First Step

To kick off, I think of a singer and a song in the style I might like to write in. I write just two numbers on the top half of the paper (see diagram below), and I can write over them again and again if I like until I can pick out a melody. The melody will be maybe just one or two bars long, or perhaps I could say it could be the length of the first line of lyrics in a song. It doesn't have to be the catchiest tune ever - just something that is a new melody that I'm imagining being sung by my singer of my choice, and in the style of the song I chose. The important thing to do once I have a tiny melodic idea is quickly make up lyrics for that little section - even if it's any nonsense words as this helps to make the first melodic section more memorable when I introduce the next two numbers.

Adding the next two numbers

The four numbers will look like this:

Template 

I can pre-draw a template that will guide the size of the digits I am to write. 

And when the numbers are written it will look something like this: 

But will quickly look something like this when I've drawn over the numbers again and again in search of a melody!

Not much effort has to go into creating a melody - to a degree they "lift" from the sound the biro makes. Just the four numbers is often enough to create a melody with "personality" that can be expanded into a song. Though sometimes I have needed a verse for a chorus, or a chorus for a verse, and written more numbers to help trigger an idea. (The more "personality" a song has developed, the harder it seems to be to  use the numbers to generate a new part of the song, though.)

Funnel Method

This is a similar idea I've used. I put a funnel over my ear and move my fingers around the stem and "body" of the funnel to make "sliding" sounds that I try to pick out a melody from. Like above, I try to start out by just picking out a melody that is just a bar or two bars long, or the length of the first line of lyrics of a song. Melodic ideas don't jump out as easily as they do with the "writing numbers" approach above, but I've still got some decent tunes out of it.