Melody Writing and Solo Composition

Instructor: Dr. Stephen Lewis
Class length: 55 minutes
Class dates: Sundays at 1:30 PM (7/5-8/9) and Thursdays at 5 PM (7/9-8/13); individual lessons in the week of July 26th-30th
Location: IN-PERSON and ONLINE, Dr. Lewis’s studio (14418 SE Ellis St, Portland, OR, 97236)
Maximum class size: 10 students
Tuition: $425 per student
To sign up: fill out form below, or email Stephen at chopinois@gmail.com

Melody is the origin and foundation of all modern Western music. This course will teach the basic principles of good melodic writing, which are remarkably similar and enduring from Gregorian chant through popular music, film music, jazz, and modern classical music today. Basic melodic writing is a crucial technique for composers to learn to help their music advance to greater expression and levels of sophistication in any genre.

This course will explore melodies from throughout the centuries as well as compositions written for unaccompanied solo instruments. The students will learn to write effective and well-constructed melodies and also to compose a short solo work for an unaccompanied violin. At the end of the course, there will be a concert of student works.