Melodic Designs

Abstract

The most flexible element of the “Sweet Thing” scheme is melody, the subject of Chapter 5. Because this component is so fluid, a great number of melodies defy categorization and seem largely unrelated to one another; and yet there are many that share noticeable characteristics of general shape and contour, which are here categorized under four titles: “Pirate,” “Stand By Me,” “Frog,” and “Blues Frog.” Moreover, these designs clearly relate back to earlier sources. The “Pirate” design, in particular, exhibits especially deep roots, extending back several centuries and ultimately adapted to the stylistic norms of twentieth-century popular music; but the “Stand By Me” and “Frog” designs also have clear origins in earlier music, the former in gospel hymnody and the latter in ragtime. In one of the most fascinating developments in the emergence of the “Sweet Thing” scheme, a melodic design descending from one branch mixes with a poetic form or rhythmic type—or both—descending from another, generating a new hybrid.