If you look at some of pop music’s greatest melodies — and by “pop” I mean the broader definition of anything written in the past century that was meant to appeal to the masses — you’ll find that repetition of ideas appears to be the most important feature. When repetition is rampant within a melody, we might call it an earworm melody – something that gets in our heads and stays there, repeating itself in (often) an annoying sort Continue

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Parallel harmony is harmony that generally follows the melody, going up when the melody goes up and down when the melody goes down. Because parallel harmonies are not independent of the melody, they do not follow the rules of well-written counterpoint and are generally not considered to be as interesting as independent harmony parts. However, parallel harmonies are easier to play for many instruments (keyboard instruments, guitar, dobro guitar, violin, and cello, to name just a few). Parallel harmonies are Continue