Contour
The shape of the melody over time. The basic contours:
- Ascending: opens, creates energy, good for pre-choruses.
- Descending: closes, relaxes, common at the end of a phrase.
- Arch: rises toward a peak and falls back; the most natural.
- Inverted arch: falls and rises again.
In Berklee songwriting courses, contour is tied to meaning: a rising melody “asks,” a falling one “affirms” or “gives up.”
Practical principles
- Stepwise motion with measured leaps: in many singable melodies most of the movement is by step.
- Leap and fill (gap-fill): after a wide leap, the melody turns back by step.
- A single climax per phrase or section; the climax of the song is usually in the chorus or the bridge.
- Stable notes on strong beats (1, 3, 5 of the chord), tensions on weak beats or as expressive appoggiaturas.
- Repetition and variation: repeat a fragment at least once, then change it.
- Range by section: narrow, low verse; higher, wider chorus.
- Breath: leave rests; the rest defines the phrase.
Example in C over C – G – Am – F
- C: G4 – E4 – G4 (chord tones)
- G: D4 – B3 – D4
- Am: C4 – E4 – A4 (leap toward the climax)
- F: G4 – F4 – E4 (descending gap-fill, ending on the third of the following C)
Real-world example
“Over the Rainbow” (Arlen, 1939) opens with an upward octave leap and then descends by step to “fill” the gap: the textbook case of gap-fill. Bernstein discusses it at length in the Young People's Concerts episode “What is Melody?”