Editing Melody (section)

==Function and elements==

[[Johann Philipp Kirnberger]] argued:
{{quote|The true goal of music—its proper enterprise—is melody. All the parts of harmony have as their ultimate purpose only beautiful melody. Therefore, the question of which is the more significant, melody or harmony, is futile. Beyond doubt, the means is subordinate to the end.|Johann Philipp Kirnberger (1771)<ref>Forte, Allen (1979). ''Tonal Harmony in Concept & Practice'', p. 203. {{ISBN|0-03-020756-8}}.</ref>}}

The Norwegian composer [[Marcus Paus]] has argued:
{{quote|Melody is to music what a scent is to the senses: it jogs our memory. It gives face to form, and identity and character to the process and proceedings. It is not only a musical subject, but a manifestation of the musically subjective. It carries and radiates personality with as much clarity and poignancy as harmony and rhythm combined. As such a powerful tool of communication, melody serves not only as protagonist in its own drama, but as messenger from the author to the audience.|[[Marcus Paus]] (2017)<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Paus|first=Marcus|date=2017-11-06|title=Why melody matters |url=https://www.gramophone.co.uk/blogs/article/why-melody-matters |magazine=[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]]}}</ref>}}

Given the many and varied elements and styles of melody "many extant explanations [of melody] confine us to specific stylistic models, and they are too exclusive."<ref name="Kliewer" /> Paul Narveson claimed in 1984 that more than three-quarters of melodic topics had not been explored thoroughly.<ref>Narveson, Paul (1984). ''Theory of Melody''. {{ISBN|0-8191-3834-7}}.</ref>

The melodies existing in most European music written before the 20th century, and popular music throughout the 20th century, featured "fixed and easily discernible frequency [[Melodic pattern|patterns]]", recurring "events, often periodic, at all structural levels" and "recurrence of durations and patterns of durations".<ref name="Kliewer" />

Melodies in the [[20th-century classical music|20th century]] "utilized a greater variety of pitch resources than ha[d] been the custom in any other historical period of [[Western culture|Western]] [[Classical music|music]]." While the [[diatonic scale]] was still used, the [[chromatic scale]] became "widely employed."<ref name="Kliewer">Kliewer, Vernon (1975). "Melody: Linear Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music", ''Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music'', pp. 270–301. Wittlich, Gary (ed.). Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. {{ISBN|0-13-049346-5}}.</ref> Composers also allotted a structural role to "the qualitative dimensions" that previously had been "almost exclusively reserved for pitch and rhythm". Kliewer states, "The essential elements of any melody are duration, pitch, and quality ([[timbre]]), [[Texture (music)|texture]], and loudness.<ref name="Kliewer" /> Though the same melody may be recognizable when played with a wide variety of timbres and dynamics, the latter may still be an "element of linear ordering."<ref name="Kliewer" />