•Harmony
•Harmony is the underlying part of a piece of music.
•Harmony relates to the melody fitting with the backing.
•Harmony is largely focused on the use of chords.
•Harmony can determine structure.
•Consonant and Dissonant Harmony
•Harmony is either consonant or dissonant.
•A piece of music can use both but you would describe it as one or the other.
•Consonant = Harmony that sounds pleasing
•Dissonant = Harmony that clashes.
•Listen to these two pieces of music:
•Are they consonant or dissonant?
•Chromatic and Diatonic Harmony
•Chromatic – moving in semitone steps.
•Semitone/Tone – distance between notes (one step on a piano is a semitone)
•Diatonic Harmony – When the use of harmony can be fitted into major or minor.
•Chromatic Harmony – When the use of harmony is not strictly part of the key and uses chromatic intervals.
•Listen to these two pieces of music:
•Which uses chromatic harmony and which uses diatonic harmony?
•Pedal and Drone
•Both of these are long, low notes which can be found in pieces of music.
•Pedal = Fits with the harmony and will change to fit the harmony.
•Drone = Does not always fit with the harmony and does not change (bagpipes).
•Harmony - Cadences
A cadence is the last two chords of a phrase or piece of music.
•There are four cadences and each one creates a different effect at the end of a phrase or piece.
•The Four Cadences
•PERFECT – sounds finished and complete.
•IMPERFECT – sounds unfinished/like something else should follow.
•PLAGAL – sounds finished/ like Amen
•INTERUPTED – sounds like the music should carry on.
•How A Cadence Works…
•Each key is made up of a series of notes and related chords which are indentified by numbers in roman numerals.
•A key is the term used to describe the group of notes which are used in a piece of music and are either major or minor.
•C D E F G A B
•CEG DFA EGB FAC GBD ACE BDF
•I II III IV V VI VII
•PERFECT = V to I
•IMPERFECT = I to V
•PLAGAL = IV to I
•INTERUPTED = anything to VI
•Tierce De Picardie
•A tierce de picardie is when the cadence is in a different key when compared to the rest of the music.
•This was common in early 20th century music.
•Harmony: Chords
•There are many different types of chords.
•A chord is a group of notes put together to form harmony.
•You must learn about five types of chords:
•MAJOR – sounds happy
•MINOR – sounds sad
•DIMINISHED – sounds spooky
•AUGMENTED – sounds uneven
•DOMINANT SEVENTH - sounds jazzy
•Chords and Intervals
•Each chord is made up of a set number of semitones or tones.
•Major – ROOT, TWO TONES, THREE SEMITONES
•Minor – ROOT, THREE SEMITONES, TWO TONES
•Diminished – THREE SEMITONES, THREE SEMITONES
•Augmented – TWO TONES, TWO TONES
•Dominant Seventh – add another note to either major or minor three semitones above the last note.
•Chords and Keys
•Each key has associated chords which are either major, minor or diminished.
•C D E F G A B
•E F G A B C D
•G A B C D E F MAJOR SCALE
•I II III IV V VI VII
•M m m M M m dim
•Chords are either represented by a roman numeral or by the letter of the main note (C or E minor).
•For a dominant seventh chord, you add the seventh note of the scale to the chord and this would be called ???7.
•SO…… YOU COULD SAY THAT Dm is chord II in the key of C major OR you called call it D minor.
•Chords and Keys
•C D Eb F G Ab B
•Eb F G Ab B C D
•G Ab B C D Eb F
•I II III IV V VI VII
•m dim aug min M M dim
•Minor scale example
•Tonality: Keys and Key Signatures
•A key refers to the overall sound of a piece of music and is determined by the notes and chords used.
•A piece of music (like chords) can be major or minor, as well as being tonal or modal.
•The key describes the overall sound rather than a specific chord and the key of a piece of music can change.
•MAJOR – sounds happy
•MINOR – sounds sad
•TONAL – either major or minor but sounds normal.
•MODAL – sounds jazzy/folky/unusual
•Key Signatures
•A key signature is written at the start of each line of music and states the key of the piece by saying which notes should be played sharp(#) or flat (b).
•You need to be able to recognise NINE key signatures.
•C major has no sharps or flats!
•The Sharps
•To add sharps, count up five notes each time a sharp needs to be added.
•G Major = 1 sharp = F#
•D Major = 2 sharps = F# and C#
•A Major = 3 sharps = F#, C# and G#
•E Major = 4 sharps = F#, C#, G# and D#
•The Flats
•To add flats, remember the order they come in and the next key will be the flat added previously!
•F Major = 1 flat = Bb
•Bb Major = 2 flats = Bb and Eb
•Eb Major = 3 flats = Bb, Eb and Ab
•Ab Major = 4 flats = Bb, Eb, Ab and Db
•Tonality: Modulation
•Modulation is when the key of a piece of music changes.
•It generally changes in a set way and is used in classical music, pop and in musicals (especially Andrew Lloyd Webber).
•Modulating to the Relative Major/Minor
•Last lesson, we looked at major key signatures.
•Every major key has a “relative” minor key which shares the same key signature.
The only difference is the 7th becomes a semitone higher!
The only difference is the 7th becomes a semitone higher!
•The way you work out the relative minor is to count down four chromatic steps.
•So......................................................... The relative minor of C major is A minor!
•Modulating to the Relative Major/Minor
•This works the other way round as well…. If you count up four chromatic steps you will find the relative major.
•IF YOU HEAR A MODULATION AND THE MUSIC GOES FROM HAPPY TO SAD OR SAD TO HAPPY, IT HAS MODULATED TO THE RELATIVE MINOR OR MAJOR!
•The Sub-Dominant and Dominant
•The sub-dominant is the fourth note in a scale…..so in C it is F.
•The dominant is the fifth note in a scale….so in C it is G.
•Music can modulate to the dominant or sub-dominant, if it all sounds like it has gone up a lot, it is the dominant otherwise it is the sub-dominant.
•A dominant or sub-dominant modulation will always remain major or minor!
