What is melodic inversion and how to do it?
I understood how to invert the chords (moving the bass note an octave above). When it comes to melodies I have seen many examples on the net but cant seem to understand the idea behind it.
This example above is given on wikipedia. On the sources they say you invert the melody upside down. This is not what I get when I invert it upside down. I dont understand it.
Could someone please explain it in a simple way and why we do this?
(1)1 Comments
Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best
Melodic Inversion
Where the original melody goes up by an interval, the inverted melody goes down by the same interval. Sometimes you do it where you keep the same number of semi-tones (sometimes you do a "diatonic" inversion and just keep the scale degree). It's a technique for taking given melodic content and constructing more, related melodic content.
In your example, the original goes from a to c (up three semitones); the inverted goes from e down to c# (down 3 semitones). Then it goes from c down to b (1 semitone); the inverted goes up one semitone and so on.
(The diatonic version would go down a third, to c-natural, then up one scale degree to d and so on. The key feature is that no accidentals would be used).
As far as I can tell melodic inversion doesn't have much to do with chord inversions, other than sharing the same name.
Terms of Use Privacy policy Contact About Cancellation policy © freshhoot.com2025 All Rights reserved.