Welcome. Harmony, like other building-blocks of what makes music entertaining to listen to, cannot be left out of the discussion. Giving music its nostalgic feeling with catchy sections leaves many returning for more after several years have passed.
But, like most concepts, there is more to harmony than sounding nice. I briefly wrote on harmony in my previous music theory post. Today, I will be expanding on the topic and bringing more clarity on the subject.
What is Harmony?
Harmony is the act of several voices or instruments playing simultaneously and cohesively with one another or perhaps not. The number of voices or instruments can be as little as two or any amount above that.
When only two notes are played at the same time, that is called an interval, as long as the pitches are different. A chord includes more notes or pitches.
From my perspective and understanding, it is easy to notice when a harmony is occurring when looking at a piece of sheet music. For example, to indicate when a chord or interval is present, the circular notes will be stacked on top of one another in a vertical line. There can still be a space between the notes depending on the location of the notes on a particular instrument.
Let us take a look at a C chord. The notes comprise of C, E, and G. On a staff, there is a space between each note but they are placed in a straight vertical line. The same can be said with only two notes or more than three.
Consonant Harmonies
A consonant harmony is simply when the notes played are pleasing to the ear. They fit together like the pieces of a puzzle. In contemporary or modern music, it is normal to hear these kinds of harmonies.
There are some ways to determine if a harmony is consonant or not. I will use the piano for reference. One way refers to the amount of space between the keys. I will start with an octave and work backwards.
An octave is a number of eight notes played in succession on a musical scale. For example, the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and C illustrate an octave. If you place your thumb on the first C, count up eight notes and rest our pink on the next C, that is an octave.
A unison is similar to an octave since a unison refers to notes of the same frequency. An octave refers to notes of different registers.
There are terms residing inside and beyond the octave. One example would be a perfect fifth. A perfect fifth is a distance of seven semitones – the immediate distance from one note to another – between two notes. Referring back to C, in order to make a perfect fifth, counting seven semitones up would land us on a G and give us a consonant harmony.
Other consonant harmonies would be a unison, a perfect 4th, a major 3rd, minor 3rd, major 6th, and a minor 6th.
A perfect fourth is the span of five semitones between two notes. An example of a perfect fourth would be from C to F.
A major 3rd is the distance of four semitones between two notes. An example would be from C to E.
A minor 3rd is the distance of three semitones between two notes. An example would be from C to E flat.
A major 6th is the distance of nine semitones between two notes. An example would be from C to A.
A minor 6th is the distance of eight semitones between two notes. An example would be from C to A flat.
Dissonant Harmonies
A dissonant harmony is an amalgamation of intervals or chords that do not necessarily mesh well with one another. They can often be used as a form of tension, particularly utilized during scores in films or jazz music.
An easy way to tell if an interval or chord is dissonant is determine if it is pleasant to listen to. If not, then you have your answer. Some examples of dissonant harmonies would be a minor 2nd, major and minor 7th, augmented 4th and 5th, and diminished 4th and 5th.
Starting with a minor 2nd, an example would be C and D played simultaneously.
An example of a major 7th – eleven semitones between notes – would be a C and B. A minor 7th – spanning ten semitones – is similar but would be a C to a B flat.
Augmented simply means it includes an additional semitone than what that particular major calls for. An augmented 4th has 4 diatonic scale degrees and is almost exactly like a perfect fourth but has an additional semitone. An example would be C to F sharp.
An augmented 5th has eight semitones spanning 5 diatonic scale degrees. An example would be C to G sharp.
A diminished interval or chord is the exact opposite of augmentation. The chord or interval is lessened by one semitone. A diminished 4th has four semitones as well as spanning four diatonic scale degrees. An example of a diminished 4th would be from C to F flat.
A diminished 5th has six semitones with 5 diatonic scale degrees. An example of a diminished 5th would be from C to G flat.
Diatonic Harmony
Another type of harmony would be a diatonic harmony which refers to notes or chords that all relate to the same key. Diatonic simply means the seven pitches that make up an octave are arranged in such a way to create a pattern. If you like, you can build chords in relation to a specific key by just skipping degrees on the scale of your choice.
Let us take the C Major scale for example. In order to create a C chord – C, E, and G – all we have to do is locate the first degree (C), skip a degree to land on the third (E), then finally skip another degree and land on the fifth (G).
Because the notes are inside of the same key, the chord is a diatonic harmony.
Non-Diatonic Harmony
A non-diatonic harmony includes notes not of the same scale. Jazz music is known for doing this with the excessive amount of wonky chords they like to create.
Let us refer back to the C Major scale. If we substituted the E for an E flat, it would be considered a non-diatonic harmony. You can get pretty creative with the construction of chords rather than sticking to the rules all of the time.
Atonal Harmony
An atonal harmony is technically homeless, It lacks a root or place of reference for its foundation. Imagine someone going completely of script in their solo, uncaring of the result or how it sounds.
Also fairly popular in jazz music, it thrives in chaos and brings a sense of excitement and anticipation to the performance.
Open and Closed Harmony
An open harmony implies the large amount of space between the notes of a chord. They are pretty easy to spot because the notes located on the staff can start below the ledger line and and far above the top line. Even if the notes may be the same as the notes of a closed harmony, it will sound different because they are in different positions.
A close harmony implies the short distance between the notes of a chord. The C Major chord would be considered a close harmony if the notes played are closer together.
In Conclusion
I hope this information was helpful for anyone. There is a lot more to harmony than meets the eye but also very fun and interesting to explore.
Keep playing!
-Jess
Calm Instrumentals 