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Major

Chord

All

Major

Chords

Using the Major Chord: Example #1

Listen again to the sound of the Major chord:

It has a positive quality to it. It evokes both a happy and peaceful mood. For our first musical example, we will make use of its happy quality:

In this example, the 2nd Violins are playing the chords in the right hand part:

As you can see in the chart below, the first chord the 2nd Violins play is a C Major chord in root position. At beat 3 of bar 1, they play an F Major chord in its second inversion:

In bar 2, beat 1, they play a C major chord in root position. At beat 2 of bar 2, they play a G major chord in its first inversion. And at beat 3, they again play the C major chord in root position.

In this musical example, we see that the melody is played by the violins and flute. A quick analysis of that melody will reveal that its notes are simply derived from the notes of the chord accompanying it:

In other words, in bar 1, beats 1 and 2, the 2nd Violins play a C Major chord. The Flute and 1st Violins' melody notes on top of this chord are simply the notes of the C Major chord:

If you follow each chord change, you will find that the melody notes all derive from that chord. This is a very simple and basic way of learning to write a melody. Find chord changes that you like and base your melody notes on the notes found in each chord.