Infinite possibilities?

Serena Casey

User Titles Rock
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 2, 2006
Messages
1,120
Reaction score
172
Location
North of nowhere
Website
serenacasey.com
So I'm taking a nap this afternoon, and halfway between awake and asleep, all these new melodies start playing in my head. Unfortunately, I'm not coherent enough to capture them on paper or an instrument before they're gone, so I can only hope they'll come back to me someday.

But here's something I've always wondered, and in reading Rivana's first lyrics post obviously I'm not alone: Are there truly any "new" melodies anymore? I've always had this mental stumbling block about trying to write songs—I feel like there's no way I can come up with something truly original because everything's already been done. But then every time I hear a new song on the radio that I really like, I realize there are still new songs to be written—I'm just letting others write them while I sit here paralyzed with the fear of failure. Is the number of possibilities truly infinite even with the limited number of notes, or eventually are we just rewriting melodies that are old enough no one remembers them anymore? I don't know if I'm making sense here. Does anyone understand my rambling?
 

moblues

Banned
Joined
May 30, 2005
Messages
4,287
Reaction score
574
So I'm taking a nap this afternoon, and halfway between awake and asleep, all these new melodies start playing in my head. Unfortunately, I'm not coherent enough to capture them on paper or an instrument before they're gone, so I can only hope they'll come back to me someday.

But here's something I've always wondered, and in reading Rivana's first lyrics post obviously I'm not alone: Are there truly any "new" melodies anymore? I've always had this mental stumbling block about trying to write songs—I feel like there's no way I can come up with something truly original because everything's already been done. But then every time I hear a new song on the radio that I really like, I realize there are still new songs to be written—I'm just letting others write them while I sit here paralyzed with the fear of failure. Is the number of possibilities truly infinite even with the limited number of notes, or eventually are we just rewriting melodies that are old enough no one remembers them anymore? I don't know if I'm making sense here. Does anyone understand my rambling?

Yes, it has been said that every diatonic melody has already been written. That's why instrumentalists turn to altered scales, timing signatures and tunings.

Don't worry about your stuff sounding somewhat similar to another writer's melody. Do you have any idea how many times songs from most of the sixties hits were the same riff?

Just put your own creative spin on your work and mix it up. Good luck.




Mike