There
is nothing overly complicated about the melody in this piece.
There are no big surprises when listening to it. Grainger did take
some liberties when he wrote it for piano, however, adding octaves in the
right hand for most of the composition. Overall, though, it is a
catchy tune.
The
"little a" melody starts on the tonic and descends to the tonic and octave
lower. Along the way it uses all the notes in the scale all within
four measures.
The
"little b" melody also starts on the tonic, but it stays in the upper octave,
creating some tension, and ending on the dominant.
The
"little b" melody starts and ends on the lower tonic. It is a calmer
section than the other two.
Obviously the original simplicity of the melody is not evident in the many arrangements of this piece, especially this one by Sousa.