I tend to write melodies in multiple different ways:
1. Hearing it in my head, then playing it out. It’s very easy to generate (like GPT but with melodies), but transcribing is very hard! The common advice is to sing it out, and then match it with the instrument. This is exactly what you did with whistling. If I don’t record it, I will very often not remember it at all later; very similar to forgetting a dream. When I hear someone else’s piano piece (or my own recorded), I will often think “I would’ve played that part differently” which is the same as my brain predicting a different melody.
2. “Asemic playing” (thanks for the phrase!) - I’ve improv-ed for hundreds of hours, and I very often run into playing similar patterns when I’m in similar “areas” such as playing the same chord progression. I’ll often have (1) melodies playing in my head while improvising, but I will often play the “wrong” note and it still sound good. Over the years, I’ve gotten much better at remembering melodies I just played (because my brain predicts that the melody will repeat) and playing the “correct” note in my head on the fly.
3. Smashing “concepts” into a melody:
What if I played this melody backwards?
Pressed every note twice?
Held every other note a half-note longer?
Used a different chord progression (so specific notes of the melody needs to change to harmonize)
Taking a specific pattern of a melody, like which notes it uses, and playing new patterns there.
Taking a specific pattern of a melody, like the rhythm between the notes (how long you hold each note, including rests) and applying it to other melodies.
Taking a specific patter of a melody, like the exact rhythm and relative notes, and starting on a different note (then continuing to play the same notes, relatively)
I tend to write melodies in multiple different ways:
1. Hearing it in my head, then playing it out. It’s very easy to generate (like GPT but with melodies), but transcribing is very hard! The common advice is to sing it out, and then match it with the instrument. This is exactly what you did with whistling. If I don’t record it, I will very often not remember it at all later; very similar to forgetting a dream. When I hear someone else’s piano piece (or my own recorded), I will often think “I would’ve played that part differently” which is the same as my brain predicting a different melody.
2. “Asemic playing” (thanks for the phrase!) - I’ve improv-ed for hundreds of hours, and I very often run into playing similar patterns when I’m in similar “areas” such as playing the same chord progression. I’ll often have (1) melodies playing in my head while improvising, but I will often play the “wrong” note and it still sound good. Over the years, I’ve gotten much better at remembering melodies I just played (because my brain predicts that the melody will repeat) and playing the “correct” note in my head on the fly.
3. Smashing “concepts” into a melody:
What if I played this melody backwards?
Pressed every note twice?
Held every other note a half-note longer?
Used a different chord progression (so specific notes of the melody needs to change to harmonize)
Taking a specific pattern of a melody, like which notes it uses, and playing new patterns there.
Taking a specific pattern of a melody, like the rhythm between the notes (how long you hold each note, including rests) and applying it to other melodies.
Taking a specific patter of a melody, like the exact rhythm and relative notes, and starting on a different note (then continuing to play the same notes, relatively)