Melodic Analysis Analysis of Melodic Contour, Continuity, and Skeleton Contour Several factors contribute to form a contour pattern. One can distinguish between one melody and another according to how contour factors are balanced and changed, and how these changes are timed as each melody unfolds in time. Differences between melodies depend upon how these factors are coordinated with contour features and how they are balanced, sequenced, and varied as the melodies unfold in time.
Melodies have identifiable frameworks called melodic skeleton, outline, or structural melody.
This framework carries basic information about the harmonic and rhythmic flow of a melody. Knowledge of this flow is essential to the analysis and harmonization of the melody. Notes are heard as part of a melodic framework because they have qualities that attract the listener's attention, impress themselves on the listener's memory, and thus become important reference notes as the music unfolds in time. The primary factors that cause a note to be a member of a melodic skeleton are given below. Practice in isolating the structural notes in a melody will lead to fast, intuitive analysis techniques.