Melody

Melody seems to have a special relationship to memory. Need to think about this, a LOT.

- Is this true?

- Would (for lack of a better word) "amelodic" music be at a natural disadvantage if it were true?

- If notes in a melody are found in the harmonics of other notes, what makes a melodic line seem special by comparison?


and finally

- Have I been doing music wrong?

Trends

The older I get, the more I begin to understand musical trends. Certain things seem to be popular at certain times for certain reasons, but I've never quite been able to figure out the hows and whys.

At times, a kind of retro revival might be in style (the current [-ish?] Fauxlk trend comes to mind), while at other times the trend is more of a futurism kind of a thing. Could it be some sort of expression of the discord between culture and subculture? How do you account for the constant evolution of these trends? Is there a way to predict the kind of a thing that might be popular a year from now? Ten years? One-Hundred?

I guess I've just always wondered where these trends come from.

If anybody out there has any ideas or resources to point me toward, I'd be glad to hear you out.