11th Grade – Harmony Exercises “We ofen think o melody, bass and harmony as three separate elements in music, but in reality they come packaged together. together. Melodies are ofen ormed rom the notes o chords, and bass lines underpin underpi n the harmonies. It is possible to play many simple pieces with just the two two outer parts – melody and bass – because your inner ear will ll in the harmonies e!en i they are not played". When harmoni#ing a melody$ %
&se mainly mainly chords chords I, I, I' and ', and and some(m some(mes es ii and !i )occas )occasional ionally ly iii* iii*
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&se rst rst in!er in!ersio sions ns )i.e. )i.e. Ib, 'b* 'b* som some(m e(mes. es.
Harmonic Rhythm +fen, the rate o harmonic change )how many chords are in each bar* increases as you approach a cadence. ook at the e-ample /he 0sh 1ro!e2. 1ro!e2.
Wring a Bass Line 0fer deciding on the chords you wish to use, you need to write a bass part. %
It shoul should d most mostly ly mo!e mo!e in con contr trary ary mo( mo(on on to the the melod melody y.
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I the melody melody line has has a long note note or a rest, rest, it is ofen ofen good good to to ha!e ha!e musical musical interes interestt in the bass bass at these points.
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To make the bass line more interesng (or to make oort!nies "or assing notes etc#$ yo! may need to !t some o" the chords in in%ersions& 'o! can do this deliberately to create a beer bass line) *r$ change the chord yo! ha%e +rien in order to make a more interesng interesng bass line&
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&se passing passing notes notes )accent )accented ed and and unacce unaccent nted* ed* and and au-ili au-iliary ary notes. notes.
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3ou can can also use use addi(on addi(onal al harmon harmony y notes notes – i.e., i.e., instead instead o a minim minim root root note, note, ha!e ha!e two two crotchets and use the root and third o the chord in the bass part.
Tyical ,adences Ic
'4
I
Ii4b
'4
I
-e%enth ,hords Most commonly, ii4 and '4. 'o! ha%e to resol%e .th chords roerly/ The .th +ill clash +ith the root o" the chord – this note m!st mo%e do+n+ards by ste in the next chord$ to a harmony note&
0iminished Triads 5hord 'II in major and minor keys, and chord ii in a minor key, are diminished. /hese sound best i the rd is do!bled, and in 2rst in%ersion.
Wring in 3!ll Text!re ( or 4 arts# % %
3ou will need to double one o the notes – the best note to double is the root, and then the 6th. 7o not double the third in 8rimary /riads. 5heck the spacing o your accompaniment wri(ng – i.e., the distance between the notes o the chords you2!e wri9en, and the distance between the accompaniment and the melody part.
,hord 5rogressions +fen, good chord progressions contain roots which all by a 6 th or rise by a :th. 3ou can also use se;uences.
6od!lang /o change key, you need to include chord symbols or both the new key and the old key – star(ng rom the pi!ot chord. /here then needs to be a perect cadence in the new key. 3ou will then need to modulate back to the original key – using the same method )a pi!ot chord, ollowed by a perect cadence*.
