Harmony and How Music Works (Documentary)

Harmony and How Music Works (Howard Goodall)

Why is harmony so important to the structure of music? Why does music affect us so deeply, from such a young age? Tunes touch our deepest emotions, and are capable of inspiring love, sorrow, faith, and hope. But how does harmony actually work? In this interesting documentary, we look at harmony’s basic elements.  Watch and learn from Howard Goodall’s Harmony and How Music Works.

In the late middle ages western harmony started on a journey that would take it in a completely separate direction to that of the music of other parts of the world. It discovered chords, and, over the next seven centuries, began to unlock their harmonic possibilities. In this film Howard looks at how western harmony works, and how, in the present day, it has fused with other forms of music to create new styles.

Progressions

Chords led to chord progressions, and Howard looks at how familiar patterns of chord progressions give all kinds of music from classical to popular their sense of forward movement. Why do the same chord patterns appear again and again, from Renaissance Italy to the latest chart hit?

Musicians have always liked to tamper with the basic chords, and experiment with dissonance. We see how these tricks of the trade actually work, and the emotional and musical effect they have. From the folk musicians of the middle ages to Bach, Beethoven, and Wagner, from Chuck Berry to David Bowie, Hendrix to Coldplay, the same harmonic techniques surface again and again.

Overtones

The middle section of this documentary looks at overtones (harmonics) generated by a single plucked string, and their relation to harmony. It shows that the basic chords are generated by these fundamental overtones. This clip delves into the dark world of minor harmony. (Faure’s ‘Pavane’ played on harp). It also looks at polyphony – many voices combining to form chords (Mass for Four Voices by William Byrd.) It asks which chord to use and demonstrates by harmonising the Xmas carol “Silent Night” at the piano. The show points out that the 24 major and minor triads harmonised practically every tune between A.D. 1200 and A.D. 1600.

The latter section of this documentary looks at the following: Renaissance and the development of chord progressions in dance music. Passamezzo Antico: (Am G Am E, then Am G Am E Am) Greensleeves. Passamezzo Moderno (C F G) – the primary triads still dominate music. Dischord / dissonance – the tritone (Devil’s Interval). (Jimi Hendrix “Purple Haze”).

Triads

Summary – Harmonics generate triads, Notes fit chords, major and minor have diferent moods, the relationships between chords create a sense of progression.  Tonic and Dominant are the most important relationships in western music from 15c onwards. (Beethoven: “Ode to Joy”, Bruce Springsteen: “Born to Run”, Beethoven: “5th Symphony”).

The dissonance in Boulez “Sonata No.1 for piano” is obvious and grating. Church composers used “passing notes” to introduce dissonance into conventional harmony (Bach: “Kyrie, Gott Vater In Ewigkeit”). Melodic suspension in Mariah Carey’s “Without You” and Antonio Lotti’s “Crucifixus”, which uses 49 suspensions in just 41 bars. Wagner in his 1865 opera “Tristan and Isolde” raised hackles with a deliberately unresolved set of suspensions which portray sexual frustration. The band Coldplay use the same device in the song “Politik”.

What is Musical Harmony? by Andrew Pouska

The word ‘harmony’ comes from the Greek word harmonia meaning agreement. Musical harmony deals with how pitches relate (or agree) with one another.

Pitches relate in many ways. Groups of pitches can be played at the same time forming chords. Or, groups of pitches (chords) can be played successively forming chord progressions. And, individual pitches can be played successively forming melodies. Harmony is the theory behind all of these musical relationships.

Harmony is Not Random

The ways in which pitches relate are not random. There are consistent patterns used over and over in music regardless of style. The more pleasing a pattern sounds, the more often it gets used. Likewise, less pleasing patterns tend to be avoided.

The more you learn about harmony, the less random chords and melodies will all appear. As you start to see, hear, and memorise the common patterns found in harmony, you will have an easier time learning songs and basslines, composing, and improvising. You may even be shocked at how many songs use the very same harmony. There’s not as much harmonic variety as you’d like to think.

Harmonic Logic

As you study harmony you should eventually discover the best sounding harmonies always have some sort of strong, internal logic to them. By that I mean there are certain key elements that, when present, create strong harmonies, and when absent, create weak harmonies.

With study, you will understand how to create and control harmony. In fact, you will realize just how much control the bass has over the harmony in a group. If you want to do anything creative with the bass or music, you need to study harmony.

Chord Progressions

A chord progression is a succession of chords. Progress means to move forward. For someone who plays the bass, a large aspect of playing the bass deals with defining the sound of the chord progression as it moves forward.

The bassist’s job especially revolves around the root movement of the chord progression. Defining each chord’s root is one of the bassist’s most rudimentary responsibilities. Beyond defining the root, bassists typically strive to create interesting connections between the roots of each chord in the progression. The better a bassist understands harmony, the more interesting and effective his or her basslines and solos will be.

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