A tune can move up and down — Art, 4–6 years
A melody is a path of high and low sounds that we can sing, play and remember. Art, 4–6 years.
A melody is a sound path
When sounds change from low to high and back again, they can make a tune. The tune is not just one sound or a noisy collection; it is an order of sounds that our ears can follow and remember.
Why make a tune?
People have sung tunes for a very long time to share feelings, remember words and bring a group together. A melody solves the problem of making a message easier to carry in memory. High and low sounds give the voice a shape.
Make three notes
Hum three notes: low, middle, high. Sing them as “do–re–mi”, then sing them back down as “mi–re–do”. You have made a tiny melody with five notes. Keep the order the same, and your listener can recognise it when you repeat it.
Loud is not high
It is easy to think that a loud sound is a high sound, because both can feel strong. They are different: loud tells us how much sound there is, while high tells us where the sound sits in the voice. A quiet whistle can be high; a loud drum can be low.
Tunes help us remember
You meet melodies in lullabies, songs, adverts and the sound a phone makes when it rings. A few ordered notes can tell you which song or signal is coming. This works because the ear notices the path, not just each note alone.
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