What is music harmony?
So what is harmony? Harmony is anything that accompanies the melody. Often, the
harmony can occur as chords, which are simply a few notes played simultaneously.
Harmony can also occur as broken chords, which are the same notes in the chord,
only they are played one after another. Often, listeners do not even know they are
hearing harmony because the composer hides it so well from them. In almost all cases,
though, the harmony that is being played can be converted into a chord.
Triads
Audio Clip (MIDI): Major Triad by us. Basic major triad
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Audio Clip (MIDI): Minor Triad by us. Basic minor triad
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The major triad is one of the most basic harmonies in music. It is formed by taking
the first, third, and fifth note of the major scale and playing them simultaneously.
This triad has a "happy" sound to it and is often used as the basic chord in a major
piece. Another common triad is the minor triad. It is formed by taking the first,
third, and fifth note of the minor scale. As you can tell, this triad has
a "sadder" sound to it and is often used as the basic chord in a minor piece.
So what's the big deal with triads? By themselves, though, they don't mean too
much. This is because
music uses a
wide variety of chords that have complex relationships to each other. Let's make
up an example so that we understand this section better. Let's say we have a piece
in the key of C Major. This means that many of the melodic notes are taken from
the C Major scale. The basic harmonic chord also starts on the key of C (the notes
would then be C, E, and G). Now this doesn't prohibit the composer from using other
triads starting on other notes in the scale. For example, the composer can use a
triad starting on G (the notes would then be G, B, and D).
By the way, there's a form of
musical shorthand
for quickly identifying the proper triad. Musicians use roman numerals corresponding
to the starting note for identifying triads. For example, if we're in the key of
C Major, I would be a triad starting on C. V would then be a triad starting on G.
Harmonic Progressions and Cadences
Audio Clip (MIDI): Plagal Cadence by us. Basic plagal cadence
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Audio Clip (MIDI): Authentic Cadence by us. Basic authentic cadence
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Still, chords are meaningless unless they add something to the
music. where
harmonic progressions come in. As composers switch from chord to chord, they Can
create the impression that the music is moving somewhere. A lot of harmonic progressions
have been established and commonly used, but composers such as Rachmaninoff are
still able to invent new and exciting harmonic progressions.
So, let's talk about some actual harmonic progressions. Cadences are one type
of harmonic progression that are often used at the end of sections to settle the
thought. Two common cadences are plagal (IV to I) and authentic (V to I). These
progressions are quite simple and only consist of two triads. Composers have realized,
though, that they give the impression of completion to a section of music. As a
result, these cadences are also commonly used at the end of an entire piece.
Inversions
Inversions are our last topic, and they really are quite simple. Let's take a
C Major triad for example. The notes in this triad are C, E, and G. The first inversion
is simply E, G, and then C. The second inversion is simply G, C, and then E. We
simply took the bottom note and put it on the top. Inversions are not important
in harmonic progressions because they do not change the triads. Inversions can become
important, though, when composers want certain notes to stand out. For example,
the top note in a triad played on the piano will always stand out just because the
highest note is more audible. For this reason, composers often place a melody note
on the top of the triad so that it can be heard more easily.
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