[rwhitney]

I usually sing a melody over the progression or improvise a melody on guitar or piano, then refine it later. I often like to write out the melody and then make the rhythms, especially, more interesting, less square, more syncopated.

I often extend notes that were originally shorter over the barline, which sometimes adds a non-harmonic suspension, more colorful and interesting melody.

Besides harmonic progressions, modulation, and melodic fragments, one way to tie different sections together is by maintaining the rhythm, or part of the rhythm, of one section into the next. This can be the rhythm of the melody or harmony as well as of the rhythm section. At least at first, then the rhythm can morph into something new. Especially if there’s something distinctive about the first rhythm to carry over.