The beginnings and development of a New Zealand music: The life ...

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a theme, and the woodwind and string colours are rarely mixed at such
points.
Most of the melodies have. a compass range restricted to an
octave or less. This, in conjunction with the facts that Lilburn rarely
uses intervals of more than a perfect fifth, and mostly confines his
intervals to those of the second or to reiterated notes, leads to the
contours of his melodies being generally horizontal and flat.
His melodies are scalic and almost invariably diatonic, with
frequent use of modes being in evidence. His melodies tend towards being
short and are often based on only one motif or idea. His rhythms in the
main follow conventional patterns of stress, pulse and groupings. Where
syncopation is used it is confined to the displacement of one or, at
most, two consecutive beats.
Most of his principal themes show evidence of bei~g instrumentally
conceived. However, many of the characteristics seen to· be held in
common by most melodies are perhaps more characteristic of melodies for
the voice.
His themes are what could be called conventional themes that,
although not usually singable, are usually memorable. At best they are
striking and vibrant, well-sculptured and highly expressive; at worst
they tend to hover in one register, lack defining characteristics, and
fail to assert themselves. It is testimony to a strength of Lilburn's
composition that melodies of the latter type are rare.