A lot of the discussion of melodies on the podcast draws from or mirrors what is called "Schenkerian analysis"--mostly when we are discussing the motion of the melody up or down a scale or along the notes of a chord. While we don't use this as a hard approach to our...

Dipping our toes into AI, we decided to put it to ChatGPT: "Tell me what makes a good melody." Overall, we think it did a very good job. (Podcast listeners will definitely see some points that we make on just about every melody we examine!)"Tell me what makes a good...

We neglected getting the video online for Episode 1 while we were so eager to get the audio of the early episodes online. So here it is: Christina Rusnak joining Arthur to review "Let It Go" from Disney's Frozen.

New music powerhouse Lisa Neher joins Melodology Podcast host Arthur Breur to examine the underappreciated “Luke and Leia” by John Williams, and she shares two of her own works — including one of her own performances.

This video is really helpful seeing the melody, seeing the scale, and following along as Arthur and guest composer Aaron Lee discuss a Jewish folk melody.

Enjoy the video of podcast host Arthur Breur and guest composer Richard Peat exploring a seemingly very simple melody that turns out to be far more than meets the eye!

This episode examined "Over the Rainbow" and I was thrilled to get to do it, as that melody was one of two that inspired the podast in the first place.

Release Date: August 31, 2022Summary:Guest composer Troisnyx joins podcast host Arthur Breur to explore the melody from “Estavius” by Phyrnna, composed for the Epic Battle Fantasy games. Troisnyx also shares her own song, “The Drummer’s Prayer”, and shares about her...

Release Date: May 13, 2022Summary:Composer Tony Manfredonia joins podcast host Arthur Breur to examine the melody of the brilliant Star Wars “Force Theme”, by John Williams. Tony also shares his main theme to the game “Call of Saregnar”, and he and Arthur discuss and...

Release Date: April 29, 2022Summary:Composer Anne McKennon joins podcast host Arthur Breur to examine the melody of the wonderful song “Rainbow Connection”, sung by Kermit the Frog in “The Muppet Movie”. Anne also shares a lullaby she composed and an orchestral...

The podcast recording schedule is full to 2022, so we're excited to be bringing a bunch of new episodes with new guest composers and beautiful melodies!Videos for episodes 6 and 7 are being created now, and we will be re-outputting the audio for episode 1 to improve...

Release Date: April 15, 2022Summary:Composer Kimberly Osberg joins podcast host Arthur Breur to examine the melody of “Londonderry Air”, more commonly known as “Danny Boy”. Along the way, they discuss scores to quirky films, composing music to stage combat, putting...

Choral composer and author Dale Trumbore joins podcast host Arthur Breur to do a deep dive into the song "Losing My Mind" by Stephen Sondeheim. They discuss how the song is meaningful to Dale, how perfectly the melody represents and reflects the song's lyrics, and how...

New Zealand composer Matthew Beardsworth joins podcast host Arthur Breur to discuss just the main theme from the “Raiders March”, and to talk about how Matthew reconsidered and reconstructed a theme in one of his own works, an alternate musical score to the short film...

Release Date: February 16, 2022Summary:Composer, podcaster, speaker, and coach, Garrett Hope joins podcast host Arthur Breur to discuss a hymn tune that, at one point or another, seems to break a number of the “established” rules of melody writing.Melody“Be Thou My...

Video for Episode 2 with Garrett Hope will be coming Friday, February 18th, viewable by our Patreon patrons!Video for Episode 1 with Christina Rusnak will take a little bit longer. This is because we didn't capture the screen correctly while we were viewing the notes...

For episode four, I was very excited to have Dale Trumbore as our guest composer. Dale is an amazing person all around. Not only is she a brilliant composer—and her choral arrangements are stellar—but she's also a prolific author of articles AND a book, Staying...

I first connected with New Zealand composer Matthew Beardsworth in my role as Composer in Residence for the Tualatin Valley Symphony. He submitted music to me for consideration to be performed by the orchestra for the February 2020 Family Concert. The music he...

Episode 2 (recorded January 21, 2022) features my friend, mentor, and all-around amazing human being, Garrett Hope as our guest composer.  Garrett creates music that inspires and educates, and lives his life in a way that inspires as well.When I suggested the idea of...

The first episode of the podcast happened even more quickly than I expected as I was communicating with composers about this podcast idea. At the Ultimate Music Business Summit (https://musicsummit.biz), I met composer Christina Rusnak and mentioned the idea of the...

Hello, everyone! Your Melodology Podcast host, composer Arthur Breur here!Here's a patrons-only heads up about episode 0!Before recording any episodes with guest composers, I invited my friend and mentor, Steven Shomler, onto the podcast to chat with me about what the...