Does your melody go up or down?

I remember being in a film scoring class at Berklee College of Music and we were re-writing the music for How to Train Your Dragon. It was the big project we worked on in that specific class.

We started by writing three themes. One for Hiccup and Toothless. One for Hiccup and Astrid. And one for “battle.”

My theme for Hiccup and Astrid went down. It ended on a lower note than it started and throughout the melody was a downward motion.

I didn’t notice this until my teacher pointed it out and said how it was a strangely sad love theme, specifically because it went down.

Then I also noticed that it was a bit of a sad theme, and it was a sad love theme. It didn’t fit a budding love story as happens in How to Train Your Dragon. It would’ve fit an ending love story.

So next time you write a melody and you want it to express a specific emotion, check the direction of the melody. Make sure that the direction of the melody and the emotion it is meant to express line up with eachother.

Does the melody go up or down?

ISJ