Below is a short video with some tips on how to take a motif
“Motif: a short succession of notes producing a single impression; a brief melodic or rhythmic formula out of which longer passages are developed”
… and make a few simple changes to expand it into a verse or chorus. The idea expressed in this video is to come up with a small melody idea and be able to repeat it 3 times but each time changing it just enough to keep it interesting. This strikes a good balance between something familiar for your listener while at the same time, providing something new with minimal effort.
There are many methods for altering a motif that I won’t list here, but this video shows 2 examples that should be easy to re-use in your own composing efforts.
Method 1
- play the motif
- repeat the motif but add a different ending to it
- repeat the original motif with the original ending
- play the motif a 4th time with another new ending.
Method 2
- play the motif
- repeat the motif unchanged
- play a shortened version of the motif twice (in the time allotted for the first version of the motif)
- play the original motif again.