top of page

Challenge #6: 

​

The Activity:

  • Chrome Music Lab is a website that makes learning music more accessible through fun, hands-on experiments. 

  • Chrome Music Lab can be used to compose your own songs. 

  • You do not need an account – just open the Song Maker section and starting creating music!

  • Chrome Music Lab offers many pre-made experiments – however, for this Challenge, we are going to focus on writing a simple melody.

  • Your task is to compose a four-bar melody which begins on “C” and ends on “C”.

Material Needed:

  • Pencil or Pen

  • Paper

  • Computer with Internet access

  • Your Imagination!

Instructions:

STEP 1: 

Open Chrome Lab Song Maker

https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Song-Maker/

​

STEP 2: Find the Following Features...

  • Tempo (the speed of your song)

  • Marimba (the default setting for the melody of your song)

  • Electronic (the default setting for the rhythm of your song)

  • Settings (this is where you can customize certain features of your song)

  • Undo (this will remove the last thing you added to your song)

  • Save (very important once you have completed your song!)

​

STEP 3:  Explore some of the features

  • Change the tempo of your song (will it be fast or will it be slow?)

  • Change the instrument which will play your melody

  • Change the instrument which will play your rhythm

​

STEP 4:  Select your features.

Since this challenge is focused on writing a melody, we will only select 2 features:

  • Select your tempo.

  • Select your melody instrument.

​

STEP 5:  Change your scale to PENTATONIC

  • Go to Settings

  • In the drop down menu where it says “Scale” select the word “Pentatonic”.

  • This will change the default from “Major Scale” to “Pentatonic Scale”.

  • In a Pentatonic Scale, there are only 5 notes…C (Doh), D (Re), E (Mi), G (Sol) and A (La).

  • You are also going to change how the beats are split (sub-division of the beat).

  • Change “Split Beats Into” from “2” to “1”.

  • These changes will make things easier for you as this is your first composition!

  • Click on the BIG BLUE CHECK SIGN!! This will save your selections and bring you back to the main screen in Song Maker.

Step 6: Now you are ready to start composing!

  • Once you are back in Song Maker, you will see four measures (or bars).

  • That is four groups of four beats.

  • These bars are broken into white and grey sections so that it is easy to tell them apart…they are like our bar lines.

  • Each beat is worth one quarter note…so that means we are in 4/4 time (4 quarter notes in each bar).

Each note is colour-coded!

Your task is to compose a four-bar melody which begins on “C” and ends on “C”.

 

You can compose directly into Chrome Lab…or you can take a moment to write down some ideas. REMEMBER TO BEGIN AND END ON “C”.

​

Due to the fact that we selected Pentatonic Scale, you will only have the option of using C, D, E, G & A.

 

Here are two simple compositional tools you can use when creating a simple melody:

1. Use step-wise motion or small intervals.

If your melody jumps all over the scale, it may sound disjointed.

(NOTE: You may like the sound of a disjointed melody…but for the purposes of this exercise, I would suggest resisting the urge to do this!)

 

Here is an example of a disjointed melody:

Here is an example of a melody which uses mostly step-wise motion:

Here is an example of a melody using step-wise motion and small intervals:

2. Use repetition!

  • Many well-known songs use REPETITION.

  • You can use some repeated notes.

  • You can use patterns which repeat.

Here are two examples:

EXAMPLE 1: JINGLE BELLS

You will notice that Jingle Bells uses a lot of repetition. The note “E” is repeated quite a few times.

​

EXAMPLE 2: HAPPY BIRTHDAY

You will notice that Happy Birthday uses a repeated pattern.

​

When you use repetition in your composition,

it builds in a sense of predictability for the listener and makes it easier to remember.

This is key when writing a melody!

​

Now it is your turn!
Start by creating your melody - starting on "C"...and ending on "C".

STEP 7: Transfer your melody to Song Maker.

  • Listen to your melody.

  • Make changes until you are happy with your melody.

​

STEP 8: Save your melody

  • Click on the “Save” button.

  • It is up to you how you save your melody.

  • You can copy the link.

  • You can share it to social media.

  • You can download either a midi or wav version of your melody.

STEP 9: Create a second part for your song!

Now that you know how to compose a melody using Song Maker, there is no end to what you can create!

Let your imagination run wild!

Here is a video which further explains this Challenge!

bottom of page