What is Harmony in Music?Beyond the Basics

In the vast and vibrant world of music, harmony is a central pillar, resonating through every chord and progression that graces our ears. But what is harmony in music? It’s a rich tapestry woven from the simultaneous sounding of differing notes that, when combined, create an emotive and dynamic aural experience. Understanding harmony is a fundamental step toward unlocking the full potential of music creation, offering insights into the sophisticated relationships between chords and how they can be harnessed to express complex feelings and ideas.

In this article, you will find

Defining Harmony in Music

In your exploration of music theory, you’ll discover that the essence of what is harmony in music lies in the simultaneous sounding of two or more notes, creating a rich and cohesive sound. Harmony, a fundamental element alongside melody and rhythm, significantly enhances the musical experience by offering depth and complexity. It is the backbone of music, supporting and enriching the melody with its layered textures.

Harmony’s Dual Nature:

Horizontal Harmony: This aspect encompasses melody, counterpoint, and rhythm, forming the narrative flow of music as it moves through time.
Vertical Harmony: Here, we look at the sum total of what is happening at any given moment, such as notes in counterpoint or the chords that provide the foundation for the melody’s principal notes.

While harmony in Western music might seem ubiquitous, it’s a relatively new invention with origins in Western Europe less than a millennium ago. Today, it’s embraced in musical cultures that trace their roots back to this region. The concept of harmony and its relationships is something our ears accept almost reflexively, a phenomenon that dates back to the work of Pythagoras in the 6th century BCE.

Historical Progression of Harmony:

Early Foundations: The system of Western harmony evolved from the polyphony of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Instances of this are seen as early as the 9th century when harmonious voices were added to plainchant melodies in churches.
Consonance Emergence: By the early 15th century, intervals like the third and sixth were recognized as consonant, enriching harmony and leading to the eventual dominance of major and minor modes.

Harmony’s role in musical composition has evolved, with a more sophisticated attitude toward dissonance emerging, favoring its use for expressive purposes. Suspensions, a type of dissonant harmony that resolves to consonance, have become a standard musical device.

Emotional Resonance:

Chord progressions and harmonies can evoke a wide range of emotions, influencing the mood and impact of a piece of music. This emotional connection makes harmony a powerful tool in the hands of a skilled composer.

As you delve into harmony in practice, you’ll encounter both functional and non-functional harmonies. Functional harmony operates within a key, with chords progressing towards cadences that give a sense of forward movement and resolution. Non-functional harmony, such as quartal harmony, focuses on the sound of the chord itself without a traditional sense of resolution. These varying approaches to harmony open up a world of expressive possibilities, allowing you to craft music that resonates with your creative vision.

The Elements of Harmony

As you deepen your understanding of what is harmony in music, it’s essential to explore the fundamental components that create the symphony of sounds that touch our souls. Harmony in music is not just about chords and chord progressions; it’s about the intricate interplay of various elements that, when combined, produce the rich tapestry of sound we experience in music. Let’s dive into these elements:

Consonance and Dissonance

Consonance: These are notes that when played together, produce a harmonious and pleasing sound. They are the sounds that feel stable and restful, often used to convey a sense of peace or resolution in music.
Dissonance: In contrast, dissonant notes can feel tense and unstable. These are the notes that crave resolution, and they play a pivotal role in propelling the emotional narrative of a musical piece. The interplay between consonance and dissonance is a dance that adds drama and expression to music.

Intervals and Chords

Intervals: The distance between two notes, measured on the musical scale, is what defines their harmonic relationship. These intervals are the building blocks of chords and are central to creating harmony.
Diatonic Chords: By stacking thirds on each degree of the major scale, diatonic chords are formed, using notes exclusively from within a key. This harmonious structure forms the foundation of chord progressions in Western music.
Chord Symbols: Understanding chord symbols is crucial for reading and writing music. Common symbols include the root note for major chords, a small ‘m’ appended for minor chords, and numbers indicating additional notes or extensions.

Non-Chord Tones and Cadences

Non-Chord Tones: These are the melodic embellishments that don’t belong to the underlying chord. They include passing tones that move between chord tones, neighbor tones that step away from and return to a chord tone, and appoggiaturas that create a dissonant tension before resolving.
Cadences: These are the chord progressions that signal the end of a phrase or section in music. They can create different sensations, from the conclusive feel of a perfect cadence to the interrupted expectation of a deceptive cadence.

The Seven Elements of Harmony

Pitch: This element relates to the frequency of sound, determining whether a note sounds high or low. It’s an essential aspect of harmony as different pitches combine to form chords.
Rhythm: The timing of notes and chords in music, rhythm is the pulse that moves music forward through time.
Timbre: Often described as the ‘color’ of music, timbre is what makes one instrument or voice sound different from another, even when playing the same notes.
Texture: This refers to how many layers of sound are heard at once, and how they interact. It’s the harmonic equivalent of timbre.
Expression: The nuances and subtleties a performer brings to the music, expression makes a performance unique and emotionally resonant.
Form: The overarching structure of a piece of music, form organizes the music into understandable and predictable patterns.
Volume: The loudness or softness of music, volume can affect the emotional impact of a harmonic progression.

In the realm of music theory, grasping these elements will empower you to craft harmonies that resonate with your artistic intentions. Whether you’re composing a serene ballad or an electrifying rock anthem, the elements of harmony are your tools to shape the emotional landscape of your music. As you continue to explore chord progressions and the nuances of music, remember that harmony is a dynamic and expressive force that transcends genres and styles, uniting musicians and listeners in a shared experience of sound.

Types of Harmony

In your quest to understand what is harmony in music, you’ll find that it’s the simultaneous sounding of pitches that forms the backbone of musical texture. Harmony is a vast and varied landscape, with numerous types that can be explored and utilized in your compositions. Let’s delve into the different types of harmony that enrich the world of music:

Diatonic Harmony

At the heart of many songs you know and love lies diatonic harmony, where all notes and chords are derived from a single master scale. This type of harmony is like a close-knit family, where each member shares a common origin, creating a sense of unity and coherence in the music you create.

Non-Diatonic Harmony

Stepping outside the confines of a single scale, non-diatonic harmony introduces notes that add a dash of the unexpected to your music. This is where you find the spice in jazz and the surprising turns in many modern music forms, as it incorporates notes from beyond the home scale.

Atonal Harmony

When you venture into the realm of atonal harmony, you’re embracing a world without a tonal center. This type of harmony doesn’t rely on the traditional major or minor scales or any identifiable root, offering a boundless canvas for your musical expressions.

Tertial Harmony

Unique to Western music, tertial harmony is built on the foundation of stacking notes in thirds. This method has evolved over time, growing in complexity and offering a rich palette for your compositions.

Functional and Non-Functional Harmony

Within the tertial system, you encounter functional harmony, where chords work within a key, moving in sequences toward cadences. In contrast, non-functional harmony, such as quartal harmony, is appreciated for its sound alone, without the traditional sense of resolution. This latter approach has gained popularity, particularly in the West, for its distinct sonic qualities.

Extended Harmonic Structures in Jazz

Jazz is a genre that truly celebrates the complexity of harmony. It often features extended and altered chords, which are like the intricate brushstrokes in a painting, adding depth and texture to the musical landscape.

The Role of Harmony in Musical Composition

In the symphony of music composition, harmony plays a pivotal role, much like a painter’s palette that allows for the creation of rich and evocative landscapes. It’s not just a background element; it’s an essential thread that weaves through the fabric of music, providing depth, contrast, and emotional resonance. Here’s how harmony elevates musical compositions:

Key Signatures and Their Impact

The key signature is the starting point of harmonic exploration, setting the stage with a specific set of sharps or flats.
It dictates the chord progression and the major or minor triads, which are the backbone of intelligent harmonies, guiding the emotional journey of a piece.
Understanding key signatures is crucial for composers to map out the harmonic landscape and to ensure that each note aligns with the overall tonal structure of the composition.

Consonance vs. Dissonance:

Consonant Harmonies: These create open, sonically pleasing landscapes that align with the chord progression, often used to instill a sense of peace or resolution.
Dissonant Harmonies: They carry tension, sometimes with a striking feel, which can be used effectively to add drama and propel the narrative forward in music.
The interplay between these harmonies can be likened to a conversation, where consonance is agreement and dissonance is debate, both essential for a dynamic musical piece.

The Dynamics of Harmonic Change

The rate of harmonic change, or the frequency at which chords shift, can greatly influence the texture and progression of a composition.
In Western music, chords typically change every bar or every other bar, providing a rhythmic foundation that listeners find familiar and accessible.
This rate of change can be played with to create unique effects, such as a slow build-up of tension or a rapid cascade of emotions.

Instrument Harmonics and Their Contributions

Each instrument brings its own harmonic flavor, depending on its tone and note quality.
The role of instruments is to highlight or add complexity to the harmonic structure, with each one playing a part in the overall harmony of a song.
For composers, the choice of instrument and how it’s played can vastly change the harmonic texture, making it a crucial consideration in music production.

Modulation and Harmonic Phrasing

Modulation, or the shift away from the original key, can take listeners on an unexpected journey, altering the mood and feel of the track.
Harmonic phrasing, which can either mirror the melody or provide a contrasting rhythm, adds another layer of complexity and interest to a composition.
These techniques offer composers the ability to guide the emotional flow of the music, creating peaks and valleys that engage the listener.

Chord Progressions and Emotional Guidance

The chord progression is the narrative spine of a song, with dominant chords often steering the direction of the harmonic journey.
It influences the consonant harmonies, with the strongest notes typically revolving around these pivotal chords, shaping the listener’s emotional experience.
By carefully crafting chord progressions, composers can evoke specific emotions, from the melancholy of minor keys to the joy of major ones.

Harmony as the Composition’s Essence

Harmony is not just an addition to melody and rhythm; it’s an integral component that adds color, depth, and dimension to music.
It’s the ‘topping’ that completes the ‘musical dessert,’ making it richer and more satisfying.
Master composers view harmony and composition as inseparable, with harmonic progressions providing forward motion and narrative to their pieces.

Chords and Progressions

Harmony in music is akin to a beautifully orchestrated dance where each step, each note, and each chord progression tells a part of the story. As you continue to explore what is harmony in music, it’s crucial to understand the building blocks that construct the harmonic foundation of any piece.

Chords: The Harmonic Building Blocks

At the heart of harmony lie chords, which are formed by the combination of notes to create a single harmonic idea. A major chord, for example, is constructed from a major third and a perfect fifth from the root, offering a sound that is often perceived as bright and happy due to the emotional qualities of major thirds (learn more about building basic chords).
Triads, the simplest form of chords, are three-note chords made up of two stacked thirds. These can be in root position or inverted, using each scale note as the root, which affects the emotional nuance and can create smoother transitions between chords (discover the role of triads in harmony).
Beyond the major triads, there are minor triads, which incorporate a minor third and evoke a darker, more somber emotion. Then there are diminished triads, consisting of two stacked minor thirds, which introduce a sense of tension that begs for resolution.

Chord Progressions: The Art of Movement

Chord progressions are the succession of chords that form the harmonic backbone of a piece. The sequence in which these chords are played significantly impacts the feel and direction of a song, much like a narrative arc in a story (explore the impact of chord progressions).
Some common chord progressions include the classic one-four-five-one, which is foundational in many genres, and the six-two-five-one, which is particularly prevalent in jazz. These progressions, like the language of music, can be universally understood and are essential tools for conveying emotion and tension in music.
Modulations and borrowed chords, such as those from the parallel minor key or secondary dominant chords, add a layer of complexity and depth to music, allowing for a richer and more varied harmonic experience.

By delving into the study of chords and their progressions, you’ll find that music theory is not just a set of rules but a guide to understanding the language of music. It’s a language that is both universal and deeply personal, allowing you to express the inexpressible. As you practice and improve your ear training, you’ll develop relative pitch, enabling you to recognize intervals and chord progressions based on their relationships to one another, further enhancing your musical intuition and creativity (hone your ear training skills).

Harmony Across Musical Genres

Harmony in music is a universal language that transcends genres, each with its own unique application that defines its character. Let’s explore how harmony weaves its magic across various musical landscapes:

Pop Music

Harmony has continually evolved to adapt to trends, with harmonizing vocals being a cornerstone in creating catchy tunes that resonate with a broad audience.
Songwriters like Max Martin and Dr. Luke have mastered the use of complex harmonic structures, crafting memorable hooks that blend musical intricacy with mainstream appeal.

Classical Music

Harmony is the vehicle for emotional storytelling, with tension and release being pivotal to the narrative journey.
Masters such as Bach and Mozart crafted complex harmonies that not only stimulate the intellect but also stir the soul, creating works that have withstood the test of time.

Jazz Music

Chord progressions lay the groundwork for improvisation, a defining feature of jazz that allows for spontaneous and one-of-a-kind musical expressions.
Jazz musicians utilize harmony as a canvas for improvisation, leading to performances that are as unpredictable as they are captivating.

Rock Music

Harmony is often harnessed to exude power and intensity, contributing to rock’s energetic and rebellious spirit.
Iconic bands like The Beatles and Led Zeppelin have employed complex harmonic structures, producing some of the most legendary tracks in rock history.

Hip Hop Music

The genre uses harmony to set the stage for mood and atmosphere, frequently through innovative sampling and the layering of vocals to create a soundscape that is both fresh and familiar.

World Music

In traditions like Indian classical music, harmony is often interwoven with complex rhythmic structures and melodic lines, crafting a harmony that is both intricate and mesmerizing.

Electronic Music

The genre explores harmony through the lens of technology, utilizing synthesizers and electronic instruments to craft sonic experiences that push the boundaries of traditional harmony.

As you continue your exploration of what is harmony in music, remember that it is not confined to a single expression or genre. It is the glue that holds the musical notes together, creating a cohesive whole out of disparate parts. Whether you’re a fan of the pulsing beats of electronic music or the soul-stirring compositions of classical maestros, harmony is a thread that connects all music, enriching our lives with its diverse expressions.

Harmony in Practice: Creating and Recognizing Harmonic Structures

Embarking on the path of creating and recognizing harmonic structures in music is a fascinating journey, one that can be both intuitive and analytical. Here’s how you can delve into this process:

Understanding Functional Harmony

Functional harmony assigns roles to chords based on their position within a scale, creating a framework for tension and release that is central to Western music. This system has developed over centuries, adhering to rules that satisfy listeners’ expectations and often result in an emotional response.
Within this framework, Roman numerals serve as a tool for analyzing chords by their scale degree and function, providing a common language for musicians to discuss and dissect harmonic structures.

Analyzing Harmonic Progressions

Harmonic analysis is a powerful method for understanding the structure and progression in a piece of music. It involves examining chord structures and common progressions, as well as a composer’s instincts and tendencies.
To perform harmonic analysis effectivel
- Grasp functional harmony and the use of Roman numeral chord symbols in major or minor scales.
- Recognize diatonic chords in a major key and assign Roman numerals to chords within a piece, understanding their role in the overall composition.

Harmony in Practice

Ear training is essential for recognizing intervals and transcribing melodies, which aids in harmonic analysis. This skill allows you to hear and understand how different instruments contribute to the overall harmony of a composition.
Creating harmonic structures can be a slow, labor-intensive process, but it can also be highly intuitive, with the music dictating its own direction. This balance between deliberate construction and spontaneous creation is what makes harmony in music both an art and a science.

By embracing these practices, you’ll find that harmony in music is not just about following rules; it’s about crafting a narrative that resonates with the human experience. Whether you’re analyzing the 50’s progression in a classic tune like “Unchained Melody” or exploring how dominant chords have shifted from tension-filled to stable and consonant in modern ears, you’re participating in a tradition that is as old as music itself. Engage with harmony, and let it guide you to new heights in your musical expression.

Conclusion

Throughout this exploration of harmony in music, we have journeyed through the complexities and nuances that make up the rich tapestry of sound. From the foundational chords and progressions to the diverse applications across genres, harmony stands as a universal thread that connects the emotional resonance of music with the listener’s experience.

It is the creative force that empowers musicians and composers to convey depth, evoke emotions, and narrate stories, all within the universal language of sound. Harmony, in essence, is a profound expression of the human condition, a sonic allegory that mirrors our own innate quest for balance and resolution.

FAQs

What is the definition of harmony in music?

Harmony in music refers to the simultaneous combination of two or more notes, producing a unified sound. Although typically involving notes played at the same time, harmony can sometimes involve a sequence of notes played consecutively.

Can you describe what “Harmony: A New Musical” is about?

“Harmony: A New Musical,” created by Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman, is a musical that recounts the true story of the Comedian Harmonists. This group was composed of six talented young men, both Jewish and gentile, who rose to fame in 1920s Germany with their unique mix of intricate close harmonies and entertaining stage antics.

What constitutes four-part harmony?

Four-part harmony is a system that arranges chords for four different vocal ranges: soprano, alto, tenor, and bass, collectively known as SATB. The term “voice” or “part” in this context refers to any musical line, whether it’s a melody sung by vocalists or a sustained note played on an instrument.

What are the three fundamental elements of harmony?

The three fundamental elements of harmony include chord tones and extensions, triads, and tritones. Understanding these concepts is essential for composing effective harmony lines in music.