Is looking for chord after having the melody unusual?

Question

Most people I encounter seem to have the opinion that **the** definitive way is to first have the chords and then "mess around" with the harmony notes until one founds a desirable succession of notes, i.e., "melody". On the other hand, I usually already have some melody in my head and so I try to find acceptable harmonization for it. However, others usually put me down for it and insist on the aforementioned method (chord first). Is looking for the chord after having the melody that <s>weird</s> unusual? I thought it's natural as a lot of people do it anyway with existing music and it's even tested in music theory examinations.

Answer 1

Figuring out harmony after composing a melody is a good and creative tool in composition. As a composer, I use it and it gives my sound a different direction and as well takes me out of comfort zone.

Answer 2

Hi! How are you today? I hope you're safe at home!

Nowadays we tend to compose harmony and then add the melody (most popular styles) but the classical approach considers the 3 elements of music in this order: Melody - Harmony - Rhythm. The "melody is queen" approach was even reinforced by thinking composers had to have some written poetry even before music enters the composition (hence, lyrics + a melodic line for them were "required" first). Once melody was created, raw harmonizing methods were commonly applied (parallel 5ths / 8ths and others, all avoided today).

Today, both "harmony first" and "music for solo instruments (chord melody and modern orchestration) are the trend. The arrival of electronic music and a lot of other styles played a big role on this as well!

Please let me know if you're interested in some contemporary harmony, modern guitar, music theory or ear training lessons! We can have really nice sessions and you can get pretty useful materials and tools for your songwriting.

Take care! Have a nice day

Carlos