Melodic contour

Melodic motion is the quality of movement of a melody, including nearness or farness of successive pitches or notes in a melody. This may be described as conjunct or disjunct, stepwise or skipwise, respectively. See also contrapuntal motion.

Bruno Nettl describes various types of melodic movement or contour (Nettl 1956, 51–53):

Other examples include:

These all may be modal frames or parts of modal frames.