Contra-melody
Here is a simple trick that you can use in songs to make them sound a lot slicker. Contra-melody is a term I have made up to describe it, and the principle is very simple.
If you have a descending bass line or descending chords, you have a melody that is ascending, i.e. for each note the bass line goes down, your singing melody takes a higher note, or vice versa.
This tends to create a more epic feel, and it is why you will hear this kind of melody a lot in classical or theatrical music. It has a knack of sounding great to the listener when used right.
September 12th, 2007 at 9:35 am
AFAIK this is a principle in classical music - at least at the time of Beethoven. It also helps a lot to make your music more interesting, less boring so to say.