Does Melody Even Matter??

[vurt]

king of the monsters!

[vurt]

and course i got gojira right!

my auntie would kill me if i didn't
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_McCarthy

[jancivil]

BZZZT

it's a Japanese portmanteau of whale and gorilla, used to describe this one large man who worked as a grip early in production.

I wrote a whole Godzilla screenplay in 2008. It's kind of hilarious.

NAMELESS WHITEMAN
How could any animal survive such a beating as it's received from our military over the years?
It defies all logic.

[vurt]

cool! well i never knew that!

in legends of tomorrow, they recently did an episode, where they travelled back to tokyo to meet the creator

[IncarnateX]

Oh...I never answered the thread question. So does melody even matter? Yes, OP, it does to me and beyond that I don’t really give a fck, and that is why I am not going to spend 30 minutes to find out what you think about it (whoever you are anyway). More discussion and less promo next time, plz.

[Musicologo]

Regarding the descriptions of musical styles found in the world:

«Style 3 - Choral, acephalous, non-specific, and integrated. This structure
is like Style 2 in all respects save one—integration. Here it belongs at the top of all world ranks—in tonal and rhythmic unity and in the variety of integrated levels present, for it is both polyrhythmic and polyphonic. It is the fashion of singing found among the Pygmies and Bushmen of Africa and may be the first, as well as the most perfect, of integrated styles. Ethnologists who have lived with the African Hunters say that the main and almost only social bond is total sharing of all resources and intra-supportive behavior. There is no doubt about the fact that both in story and song they use the same communication model—a model so supportive, so tightly bonded, that leader and follower, call and response, are difficult to distinguish. The choral acephalous types (2 and 3) are generally sung in polyphonic counterpoint. In fact, counterpoint is more common in the songs of gatherers than at any other stage of human development prior to the age of Bach. Thus, counterpoint seems not to have been a late invention of high cultures, but one of the first musical discoveries.»

p.223 "the good and the beautiful in folk song", Alan Lomax.
Again, remiting for actual scientific knowledge about musical practices...

[IncarnateX]

I am not sure if this is related to something I said but as noted, Gergorian chants are from a time (7th century and beyond) where polyphony was aleady available in folk music but simply not allowed within the church. My studies are restricted to church music and how church music influenced later classical music in general and vice versa. Honestly, I have no detailed knowledge about how far we can trace the roots of polyphony but Africa among other would not be a surprise.

[Bombadil]

I'll ask my wife. She specialized in Renaissance music, has a degree from a conservatory.

[IncarnateX]

What will you ask her about? Roots?

Wiki has this to say, but not my ballpark until the time past Musica enchiriadis and Scolica enchiriadis:

Traditional (non-professional) polyphony has a wide, if uneven, distribution among the peoples of the world.[citation needed] Most polyphonic regions of the world are in sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and Oceania. It is believed that the origins of polyphony in traditional music vastly predate the emergence of polyphony in European professional music. Currently there are two contradictory approaches to the problem of the origins of vocal polyphony: the Cultural Model, and the Evolutionary Model.[4] According to the Cultural Model, the origins of polyphony are connected to the development of human musical culture; polyphony came as the natural development of the primordial monophonic singing; therefore polyphonic traditions are bound to gradually replace monophonic traditions.[5] According to the Evolutionary Model, the origins of polyphonic singing are much deeper, and are connected to the earlier stages of human evolution; polyphony was an important part of a defence system of the hominids, and traditions of polyphony are gradually disappearing all over the world.[6]:198–210

Although the exact origins of polyphony in the Western church traditions are unknown, the treatises Musica enchiriadis and Scolica enchiriadis, both dating from c. 900, are usually considered the oldest extant written examples of polyphony. These treatises provided examples of two-voice note-against-note embellishments of chants using parallel octaves, fifths, and fourths. Rather than being fixed works, they indicated ways of improvising polyphony during performance. The Winchester Troper, from c. 1000, is the oldest extant example of notated polyphony for chant performance, although the notation does not indicate precise pitch levels or durations.[7]

[IncarnateX]

And this quote confirms my own studies, namely that polyphony and sacredness were certainly not friends by default. It was a serious issue:

It was not merely polyphony that offended the medieval ears, but the notion of secular music merging with the sacred and making its way into the papal court. It gave church music more of a jocular performance quality removing the solemn worship they were accustomed to. The use of and attitude toward polyphony varied widely in the Avignon court from the beginning to the end of its religious importance in the fourteenth century. Harmony was not only considered frivolous, impious, and lascivious, but an obstruction to the audibility of the words. Instruments, as well as certain modes, were actually forbidden in the church because of their association with secular music and pagan rites. Dissonant clashes of notes give a creepy feeling that was labeled as evil, fueling their argument against polyphony as being the devil’s music. After banishing polyphony from the Liturgy in 1322, Pope John XXII spoke in his 1324 bull Docta Sanctorum Patrum warning against the unbecoming elements of this musical innovation.[10] Pope Clement VI, however, indulged in it.

[Bombadil]

My wife is quite knowledgeable about this topic, but you are doing fine yourself.

[donkey tugger]

I was once in a meeting with a woman called Melody. Quite posh. Didn't know here arse from her elbow though about the important stuff like road transport legislation. I'd say no then.

[Delta Sign]

Just to offer my take on the original question:

Yes, melody is an important part of a lot of music, but definitely not for all of it.

During the past ~100 years, with the advent of recording technology and the possibility of manipulating sound in interesting ways, there has been a lot of music that focuses on sound itself, instead of the notes it is playing.
Pierre Schaeffer and John Cage certainly weren't focusing on melodies for a lot of their music, for example, and neither do a lot of more modern electronic artists, and that's perfectly fine.

Music is a lot more then just a linear succession of pitches in time. Since we gained access to recording technology, the performance of said notes, and the sound itself became equally as important. For example, lots of modern ambient and drone music can't even be really transcribed in a classical way, it would basically just be one long note, but that doesn't mean there can't be just as much "theory" involved, it just hasn't been studied nearly as much as functional harmony (for example) yet.

Academic music has always been very slow at adapting to new developments. It always takes a lot of time until something is taken seriously (as can be observed in this very sub forum all the time).

Dang kids and their stupid Jazz "music".

[seangm]

deleted

[deastman]

BZZZT

it's a Japanese portmanteau of whale and gorilla, used to describe this one large man who worked as a grip early in production.

I wrote a whole Godzilla screenplay in 2008. It's kind of hilarious.

NAMELESS WHITEMAN
How could any animal survive such a beating as it's received from our military over the years?
It defies all logic.

I never would have pegged you as a Godzilla fan, just based on what you usually post here. I was actually just over at Kimono My House, lusting after some expensive figurines which I don’t need.