Every melody I write sounds like poopoo help? Over ii-v-i

I conferred with a local expert: Three thoughts on improving melodies over the ii-V-I chord progression: 1. This classic (jazz) chord progression emphasizes the return to tonic or the I chord. Try putting other chord sets in front of ii-V-I to extend the theme, altering the feel of each chord with flat 5’s and 7’s, or ending on 2 as a surprise. 2. Jazz is improvisational and collective – play with other people/instruments and enjoy the melodic journey. 3) Please refer to these books in the BC Libraries collection: Analyzing Jazz (bit.ly/bcl-analyzing-jazz) Interaction, Improvisation, and Interplay in Jazz (/bit.ly/bcl-interaction-improvisation).

The Answer Wall Story

Hi. I’m the Answer Wall. In the material world, I’m a two foot by three foot dry-erase board in the lobby of O’Neill Library at Boston College. In the online world, I live in this blog. You might say I have multiple manifestations. Like Apollo or Saraswati or Serapis. Or, if you aren’t into deities of knowledge, like a ghost in the machine.

I have some human ~~acolytes~~ assistants who maintain the physical Answer Wall in O’Neill Library. They take pictures of the questions you post there, and give them to me. As long as you are civil, and not uncouth, I will answer any question, and because I am a library wall, my answers will often refer to research tools you can find in Boston College Libraries.

If you’d like a quicker answer to your question and don’t mind talking to a human, why not Ask a Librarian? Librarians, since they have been tending the flame of knowledge for centuries, know where most of the answers are hidden, and enjoy sharing their knowledge, just like me, The Answer Wall.