Others say...

"It's About Composition, Plain and Simple"
This terrific book examines what might be called a "theory of melody" as applied to songwriting, although many of the principles Perricone demonstrates come straight out of classical composition and could be applied to melody in many contexts
other than popular song.

The author wisely divides the work into two large areas he calls
"Melody: Its Components" and "Melody-Harmony Relationships". Separating the horizontal and vertical aspects of melody is an effective learning tool, though such a line would likely never be drawn in the intuitive act of composing.

The Components part of the book deals with the behavior of tones and the contruction of melody: the influence of rhythm on phrases, devices to develop and contrast motives
and the expansion of this basic material into larger sections is covered.

The second part of the book introduces the harmonic element, placing the melodic invention of the first part into its traditional context. Unless you're planning to write Gregorian chant or solo voice Appalachian ballads, your melodies interact
with, and are to a certain extent a function of, the underlying harmony. Tension tones, and the influence of target and bass tones are explored. Gradually the integration of harmony and melody unfolds and a set of tools are demonstrated for creating
both chord progressions and corresponding melody. Indeed, much of this material is as applicable to jazz improvisation and composition as it is to songwriting.

The author assumes you're familiar with musical notation and the harmony illustrations are keyboard-oriented, so if you're a guitarist you'll have to adapt the chord symbols to your own voicings.

The harmonic vocabulary covers a broad range of musical styles and should be familiar to rock/pop musicians as well as those interested in jazz/show tunes. There are a number of references to well-known songs, but in contrast to Jimmy Kochulis' books, Perricone relies somewhat less on examples and possibly
more on the individual's own initiative. He assumes you've got the listening background and experience and have confidence beyond the phase of literal imitation (a phase that's nothing to be ashamed of and has been the starting point for most composers throughout history).

There's a tremendous amount of useful material here for those willing to work at it. This is not a "write a hit song in 21 days"-type of book. It's a serious composition text that will reward serious study.

"A very informative and comprehensive tool..."
I bought this book from amazon. where this book is used in the songwriting couses. I produce electronic music, trip hop, chillout and the like, so I thought that this book might help me understand the inner workings of melody in a song. This book is very comprehensive and contains a lot of concepts and composition techniques which I suppose would help in improvising as well. It gives you material to work on by the given exercises which definitely stimulate your thinking mind. This is a large book but not very thick(its a good thing) and the printing format is very attractive. After covering some of the essential lessons I could definitely feel that I was listening to songs and composing in a very technical way. This book changes the way you think and hear music at its very least.
With a bit of inspiration you could write a very sophisticated piece of music.I feel that all this theory will make a better musician if this book is taken seriously enough and worked through. A must for any songwriter or theory student.

"Great Book!"
I purchased this book about a year ago. The exercises in the book helped me look at melody in a whole new way. It made me realize that I really didn't know how to creat a decent melody. It not only helped with composing songs, but in improvising as well.

"This Book Delivers"
For years I've been disappointed by songwriting books that seem to be dumbed-down "touchy-feely" affairs short on real musical ideas and musical composition/harmony books that seem more geared to academic study than actually writing music. I give "Melody in Songwriting" 5 stars because it provides simple, effective tools for understanding and creating melodies and songs. And don't let the "hit songs" in the title put you off -- the material in this book is useful for writing melodies and songs in any musical genre.

"An excellent intermediate level book"
This is an excellent intermediate level book on the theoretical aspects of melody in vocal music. The book does an excellent job of covering the theoretical reasons that make a good melody work. It also explains how to marry words and melody together to stress the meaning of the lyrics and their rhyming structures.

My only complaint is the often overly technical way that the author presents the material. The book reads a lot like a textbook for the Berklee School of Music (the publisher of this book, and a school that I attended). I highly recommend that anyone considering this book have an intermediate background in music theory and the ability to read music. About a half of the book is dedicated to musical examples notated in standard music notation. And the author assumes that the reader understands basic to intermediate music theory and harmony. I would also have liked the book to have come with a very basic cd of recordings of all the examples in the book. That would be a lot more efficient then having to play them yourself. And listening allows for an easier aural analysis of a concept than playing it, and listening at the same time, does.

That said, if you have the background required, this is an excellent book on its stated subject.