You’re right, the skeleton is all the same— a beat, a line, a clause. In a contract, the rigid parts are the legal teeth that protect both sides, the numbers that must hit the mark. The melody of a composition is the room you give to the soul to breathe. I usually start by hearing the core emotion, letting it whisper where the law can loosen its grip. If a clause feels too tight, I let it sway, like a bridge that bends but doesn’t fall. I trust that the structure will hold, but I don’t want to smother the first chord of a piece. The trick is to feel the tension; when the words feel heavy, I loosen them. When the music stalls, I tighten the rhythm. In the end, the law can be strict, but it still needs the wildness of a crescendo that makes people feel. The balance is a constant improvisation, just like life.