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Questions tagged [harmony]

For questions about the "vertical" aspects of music and how to build and study them.

4 votes
1 answer
87 views

What seventh chords belong to the minor mode in actual practice after allowing the conventional alterations?

Fig. 85 on p. 115 of Roger Sessions' Harmonic Practice (1951) illustrates the triads capable of being sounded in the minor mode once one has permitted (1) lowering the second degree in the II chord, (...
Noah J's user avatar
  • 277
4 votes
2 answers
161 views

Can anyone give me examples of early uses of the dominant seventh chord?

It is well known (since Fetis) that the first appearance of the unprepared seventh in the dominant seventh chord is in Monteverdi's madrigal "Cruda amarilli". That sets the origin of this ...
Pablo's user avatar
  • 316
7 votes
6 answers
854 views

Can a monophonic melody have harmony?

I'm analysing a piece from the Traditional Songs of the Maori by Margaret Orbell and Mervyn McLean. Can such a piece with a monophonic melody have harmony?
John's user avatar
  • 73
6 votes
3 answers
197 views

Alternative to passing chord harmonization in closed position

I'm not entirely satisfied with the way I've harmonized the third beat of these trumpet parts, highlighted in the screenshot, for this big band transcription. (The trumpets are playing on their own ...
Ian Goldby's user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
135 views

Why chords make melody sound different?

I am learning to harmonize melodies. I put basic triads under the melody notes. Sometimes, they work well. Sometimes, the chords just make the melody sound different. I can’t find solution to it. For ...
Yi Ming's user avatar
  • 119
2 votes
1 answer
195 views

Do flamenco guitarists use distinctive chords?

Classical guitarist here. Does flamenco guitar use distinctive chords (other than, say, the major, minor, augmented, and diminished triads and seventh chords), or is it just the favored modes, chord ...
Noah J's user avatar
  • 277
3 votes
4 answers
439 views

What's it called when harmony moves in the same intervals as the melody?

What's it called when the harmony moves in the exact same intervals as a melody, even if it is chromatic? Here's an example: My apologies, I would do actual notation but I am not currently able to. ...
alistato's user avatar
  • 331
1 vote
1 answer
140 views

Why does it sound so weird? (Beethoven quartet)

Why does the first A# of the tetrachord of fugal development in op. 131, no. 7, m. 114 cello sound so weird? Is it because of the false relation with B?
schwarz's user avatar
  • 33
1 vote
0 answers
78 views

What is the name of this music instrument? [closed]

I want to know which instrument is it for the music of raymans especially this at the beggining, this who do the main melody ... a violin ? A midi synth in a computer ...
user96762's user avatar
  • 129
3 votes
1 answer
83 views

Using iv/x to tonicize a key?

Because V/x is so popular and useful, would iv/x have a good function as well? I’ve found that V and iv have very similar effects in terms of tension toward the tonic. Also, would V+/x be ...
alistato's user avatar
  • 331
11 votes
5 answers
2k views

Why is the key typically the first and/or last note (or chord) of a song?

Is there a strategical reason when composing for the key to commonly be the first and/or last note (or chord) of a song?
Emotion's user avatar
  • 347
6 votes
7 answers
1k views

Term for a harmony that's always above the melody, but just enough to be in chord?

Is there a term for a harmony that always resembles the next-closest note above the melody that is in chord (not just in key)? A friend of mine always does that when improvising a harmony and she ...
Forivin's user avatar
  • 251
4 votes
2 answers
121 views

The root of augmented triad according to Hindemith

In Hindemith's book The craft of musical composition. Book 1, Theoretical part, he says that (p. 97) The lower tone of a third or a seventh (in the absence of any better interval) is the root of the ...
Divide1918's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
617 views

Why does Cmaj7 and Emaj7 sound good (or a name to describe this progression)?

I have an extremely limited understanding of theory, and from what I currently understand, chords will sound good together if they share a common key/scale (e.g. for C major scale, the chords that ...
lycus's user avatar
  • 131
3 votes
2 answers
92 views

Three consecutive dissonances in verset fugue

I've been playing from a collection of versets (fugues) by Gottlieb Muffat. https://imslp.org/wiki/72_Versetl_sammt_12_Toccaten_(Muffat%2C_Gottlieb) The versets are arranged by the old Church tones ...
Michael Curtis's user avatar

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