Questions tagged [harmony]
For questions about the "vertical" aspects of music and how to build and study them.
1,334
questions
0
votes
0
answers
70
views
Vocal harmony: Optimizing for the parameters of an upcoming project
Since my last question got such a comically bad reception, I'll eliminate what are apparently hot button issues to reframe the core concept more clearly and hopefully elicit specific answers.
I have ...
- 1
-4
votes
0
answers
57
views
Which approach to 3 part harmony would the greatest percentage of people find pleasing?
I'm looking for algorithmic rules that take a melody and accompanying chords as input, then output the version of tight 3 part parallel harmony that the greatest percentage of untrained casual ...
- 1
2
votes
1
answer
67
views
Would writing my main vocal part (lyrics) to a drone help me stay in key, and without limiting pitch variation?
By drone typically I mean one note, though from my understanding a drone could be one note, two notes, a chord or even 6 notes usually played on string instruments such as the tanpura or guitar. I’m ...
- 29
2
votes
1
answer
81
views
Is this a V7sus2/V7 chord in bach?
When i was playing this prelude from bach i came across a new chord that i don't usually see in 18th century pieces
Also another question - in writing counterpoint in bach style it looks like two ...
- 409
0
votes
1
answer
102
views
can anyone help me in writing a quartet
hi i've been doing some analyzing and after learning counterpoint and 4 part harmony and studying a little about forms today for the first time i wrote a period to turn in into a ternary or a simple ...
- 409
0
votes
1
answer
38
views
Analyzing harmony
I'm trying to analyze this simple exercise from schubert but i can't really find the harmonic function here beside the satisfying voice leading that i hear when i play it
I wanna write such a piece ...
- 409
0
votes
1
answer
20
views
moving into parallel compound intervals counterpoint
in strict counterpoint and i'm talking about fux's book
is having 2 parallel perfect intervals with contrary motion still wrong?
because in fux book only contrary and oblique motion are acceptable for ...
- 409
0
votes
2
answers
80
views
why does V/iii to IV work?
i was writing chords when I came up with this progression:
IV-V-I-V/vi-IV-V-I
i understand why the V/vi-IV works--because there is only a one note difference between vi (which V/vi usually resolves to)...
- 331
1
vote
6
answers
125
views
What is the value in analysing chords as if they were made up of stacked triads?
To my ears chords each have their own quality and how they sound (and what feelings they might evoke) depends on the context. In general plain majors are strong/simple while minors are sad, but add2 ...
- 151
3
votes
4
answers
584
views
The relation between voices in piano pieces
I've been trying to understand how to identify the voices within the harmonic progression they form, after learning counterpoint and SATB harmony.
But when I'm investigating the relation between ...
- 409
0
votes
1
answer
70
views
Waltz in e minor by Ferdinando Carulli [closed]
I started learning a bit of classical guitar 2 years back. I only learnt and retained this piece, so forgive me for having no music knowledge, and I apologize if my question is ill phrased but are ...
- 3
1
vote
7
answers
151
views
Is a “minor Seventh Chord” basically just a combination of a “minor Triad” and its Relative “Major Triad”?
Is a minor Seventh Chord basically just a combination of a “minor Triad” and its Relative “Major Triad”, (or a combination of a Major Triad and its Relative minor Triad)?
- 51
4
votes
3
answers
400
views
What does "prevailing harmony" mean?
While I was reading up on passing tones, I encountered this example:
Example 15–7 presents an expansion of a C-major chord over two beats: the lower voice leaps down from the third of the chord to ...
- 1,517
4
votes
2
answers
173
views
Why does this major-key folk song sound sad?
This is an old Scottish folk song. Why does it sound so sad, even though it is in a major key, and doesn't use any of the typical tricks songwriters use to make major keys sound sad (i.e. IV-iv-I)?
- 43
0
votes
1
answer
56
views
Ballade Pour Adeline: How to understand the dyads?
I am listening to Ballade pour Adeline for piano and specifically to this version on YouTube.
After the quick introductory arpeggio, the main part starts with a dyad of G and E played with the right ...
- 415
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, (...
- 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 ...
- 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?
- 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 ...
- 902
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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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.
...
- 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?
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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?
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
- 549
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 ...
- 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 ...
- 58.4k