“Celebrating the Unsung Excellence of Melody Makers!”
Each episode host composer Arthur Breur and a guest explore and examine beloved melodies from a variety of sources: popular songs, musicals, operas, classical music, hymns and liturgy, film and television scores and more.
Episodes
Episode 18: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Meet the Subspace Rhapsody Songwriters!
Meet Kay Hanley and Tom Polce, the songwriters for the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds musical episode, “Subspace Rhapsody!”
Episode 17 with Scott Hallgren: “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”
Award-winning composer, musician, and sound editor Scott Halgren joins podcast host Arthur Breur to discuss “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” by Charles Mingus. This is the first real Jazz melody discussed so far in the podcast, and the discussions include some of the characteristics that make Jazz stand out from other genres and forms of music.
Episode 16 with Dominic Fallacaro: “Baby One More Time”
Grammy-winning producer, composer, music director, and multi-instrumentalist Dominic Fallacaro joins podcast host Arthur Breur to discuss one of the best selling singles of all time: “Baby One More Time” by Swedish record producer and songwriter Max Martin.
Patreon Posts
Our second ChatGPT question: “What are the arguments for and against Schenkerian analysis?”
A lot of the discussion of melodies on the podcast draws from or mirrors what is called "Schenkerian analysis"--mostly when we are discussing the motion of the melody up or down a scale or along the notes of a chord. While we don't use this as a hard approach to our...
Our first ChatGPT query: “Tell me what makes a good melody.”
Dipping our toes into AI, we decided to put it to ChatGPT: "Tell me what makes a good melody." Overall, we think it did a very good job. (Podcast listeners will definitely see some points that we make on just about every melody we examine!)"Tell me what makes a good...
Episode 1 with Christina Rusnak
We neglected getting the video online for Episode 1 while we were so eager to get the audio of the early episodes online. So here it is: Christina Rusnak joining Arthur to review "Let It Go" from Disney's Frozen.
Video of Episode 13 with Lisa Neher: “Luke and Leia”
New music powerhouse Lisa Neher joins Melodology Podcast host Arthur Breur to examine the underappreciated “Luke and Leia” by John Williams, and she shares two of her own works — including one of her own performances.
Video of Episode 12 with Aaron Lee: “Seit Gesunderhait” (“Farewell My Dear Parents”)
This video is really helpful seeing the melody, seeing the scale, and following along as Arthur and guest composer Aaron Lee discuss a Jewish folk melody.
Video of Episode 11 with Richard Peat: “Down In Yon Forest”
Enjoy the video of podcast host Arthur Breur and guest composer Richard Peat exploring a seemingly very simple melody that turns out to be far more than meets the eye!
