How to Write a Theme That Actually Works (From Sketch to Soundtrack)

Turn your melody into a story the audience can feel.

Why Most Themes Fall Flat (and How to Fix It)

Catchy melodies are everywhere, but memorable themes a little more rare. Why?

Because most composers start with the notes. They chase something that sounds "cool" or "cinematic"...but forget the one question that really matters:

| What is the theme supposed to mean?

And I don't mean on a shallow level. If you want to write a theme that actually works, one that grows across a film, sticks with your audiences, and feels like it belongs, you need a process that starts with meaning, not melody.

Step 1: Start With the Story, Not the Notes

Before you write a single chord or melodic shape, answer this question:

| What does this theme actually represent?

Is it a character, a world, a relationships, and goal, or even a moral belief the story is trying to express?

This is your starting point, because what your theme represents will shape how it needs to grow, transform, and be interpreted by the audience throughout the story.

Ask yourself:

• Is this theme tied to a person or their journey?

• Does it capture a feeling, a goal, or a core belief?

• Will this theme appear in different emotional forms, and if so, why?

You can't write a meaningful theme until you've decided what it stands for. That decision is what gives your music a purpose, and it gives you a north star to follow as you write.

Once you've defined what your theme represents, the next step is to figure out how it should feel.

Step 2: Study the Subject

Once you've defined what your theme represents, the next step is to understand it deeply. You need to go beyond the surface traits of your subject, and really get to know what you're translating into music.

For example, if you're working on a character theme, at minimum, I recommend answering the following questions:

• What is their goal/desire?

• What is their weakness? (a behavior or belief that holds them back/hurts them)

• What do they need to learn or change?

• How do they grow or change over the course of the story?

This kind of emotional study gives your theme direction and provides incredible sources of inspiration for your music. It informs your decisions on how the theme should evolve, and why.

|💡Pro Tip: My textbook, The Musical Storyteller, includes multiple chapters, and worksheets full of questions to help you explore characters, arcs, worlds, and emotions and how they can be portrayed musically.

Step 3: Brainstorm Using the 9-Musical Parameters

Now that you understand what your theme represents and how it functions in the story, it's time to start designing the theme — one parameter at a time.

This is where my 9-parameter method comes in.

Instead of trying to write a finished melody from scratch, ask: "How can I use each of these musical building blocks to bring the theme to life?"

• Timbre - What instruments or sounds represent the subject best?

• Texture - Is the theme sparse and exposed, or rich and layered?

• Tempo - Should the pacing feel urgent, drifting, or relaxed?

• Rhythm - Is it steady, syncopated, or unpredictable?

• Register - High and vulnerable? low and grounded?

• Articulation - Smooth and lyrical? Staccato and cautious?

• Dynamics - Soft and intimate, or bold and declarative?

• Harmony - Simple and open? Dense and ambiguous?

• Pitch/Melody - What intervals, shapes, or contours capture the essence?

Move through these parameters, one at a time. Brainstorm any ideas that come to mind on how each one can help portray some element of your subject. This method lets you build your theme from the inside out — deliberately, with meaning behind every choice.

(Keep in mind that you won't always have ideas for each and every parameter, so feel free to skip a couple if you don't feel inspired. All you really need is a few good ideas to help get you started.)

Step 4: Sketching the Theme

Now comes the fun part — turning your thematic blueprint into music.

Using everything you've learned and planned, start sketching. Focus on capturing the core identity of the theme in its most essential form. Don't try to write a full cue, just the first honest version of your theme.

This sketch becomes the seed for every variation, development, and emotional transformation later in the score.

Let me show you how this works in practice.

Character Study: Jesse from Splish

Jessee is the main character in a short story I scored for a dance troupe in New York.

She's lonely, quiet, romantic, and desperate to belong in a big, busy city where she feels completely invisible.

Her story is subtle. It's not about "fixing" her loneliness.

It's about finally understanding it.

How I Wrote Her Theme

After spending a few days studying the character and story (which involved meetings with the director, choreographer, and TONS of journaling) I sat down in a coffee house to begin the 9-parameter approach. Most of my ideas were pretty simple and boring "Use a slower tempo for the main theme", "use simple, legato articulations", and stuff like that. However in the process, I came up with a few ideas that really got me excited, and left me feeling inspired.

Rhythm:

Jessee's theme is written in something called "Mixed meter" a time signature that alters between 3/4 and 4/4 time. This symbolizes her internal tug-of-war between the romanticized life she thinks she should be living, and grounded reality that actually makes her feel happy.

In the final arrangement, there is a scene where Jessee momentarily lets go of her pre-conceived notions of what life is supposed to be like, and briefly finds piece. In this scene, her scene swapped from mixed meter to entirely 4/4 time...until the doubt returns, at which point so does the mixed meter.

Harmony:

To reflect Jessee's romantic spirit I planned to use extended chords for warmth and color.

To portray the worst aspects of loneliness (the false hope that things will somehow change on their own) I came up with the idea of using a different cadence every single time her theme returns. Each one desperately trying to pull to a new tonal center (modulate to a different key) but each and every time pulling back to the same exact chord, A-minor. The first chord of the theme.

These ideas weren't the only ones I came up with, but they WERE the ones I was most excited about. Together, I used my ideas to put together a sketch that would eventually get developed into my full score.

Final Thoughts

Great themes don't happen by accident.

They're built — piece by piece —from a deep understanding of the story.

By defining what your theme represents, studying your subject, and using a structured musical framework like the 9-parameters, you can write themes that don't just "fit the scene", they tell the story.

Want to give this process a try? Check out my book The Musical Storyteller to learn more!