Writing a simple melody

Ages 9 to 12 Read alone or together · about 40 minutes

Read together

A melody is a tune: a line of notes with rhythm. You can write one even if you have never composed before.

A pentatonic scale has five notes. Many songs from around the world use it. On a piano, the black keys make one. Any notes in this scale sound good together.

A tune often has a question and an answer: a short phrase, then a second phrase that finishes it.

Do it

1. Find a set of five notes: the black keys on a piano, or a xylophone or a tuned set of bottles. Play them in order, up and down.
2. Choose a four-beat rhythm, such as ta ta ti-ti ta. Play it on the notes in any order. This is your first phrase.
3. Make a second phrase with the same rhythm but ending on your starting note, so it feels finished.
4. Write your tune using letters or numbers. Play it for someone and add words if you like, such as a thank-you.

Talk about it

• Which phrase is the question and which is the answer?
• How does the tune feel when it ends on the home note?

For the grown-up

Pentatonic scales are used in music in China, Africa, Scotland, the Americas and elsewhere. Teachers often use them in children's composing because every combination sounds pleasant. Orff-style instruments are often built with these notes.

Mark as done

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Where this comes from

• Lois Choksy, The Kodály Method I: Comprehensive Music Education, 3rd ed. (Prentice Hall, 1999), on pentatonic melodies
• Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman, Orff-Schulwerk: Music for Children (Schott)

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.