Musical HARMONY: definition and examples

Everything is made up of parts, factors that form a whole and that define it from the detail. This is also the case in art and music, when various elements can change to create a thousand possibilities despite being the same thing. Such elements as tempo, instrumentation and metrics among others provide us with pieces that we can change at will for our own expression. These same pieces are the skeleton and structure of the music.

In this article by a TEACHER we will talk about one of those basic and crucial elements in music. Is about musical harmony: definition and examples.

Index

1. What is musical harmony: simple definition
2. Chords, a key element of musical harmony
3. Musical tonality
4. Musical scales and grades
5. Harmonic structure example

Music is made up of sound, which is a purely physical element even though we have turned it into art. This phenomenon has behaviors of different characteristics that include tuning, frequency and structure among others. The most interesting of these elements is

The harmony is basically this, because with it we study the relationship that exists between two or more notes that sound simultaneously. If a single note sounds by itself, its definition is very clear, but when it sounds together with another note, new sounds are created that we then use depending on what we want to express.

Harmony is probably the most complex element to analyze, because it depends on all the possible relationships that we can make. We must remember that there are 12 different notes (taking into account the semitones) and that in a chord we can have 4, 5, 6 or more notes. If we do mathematical calculations, the number of combinations is infinite.

The musical concepts that we relate to harmony are: chords, tonality, scalesY degrees.

Image: Slideshare

A chord is when two or more notes sound at the same time. There are different types of chords and these are classified by the number of notes that make it up and their sound role within the chord. We start naming the chords from 3 simultaneous notes. We call these "triads ".

• Examples: minor triad, major triad, augmented triad, diminished triad. We also have the quadriate which are 4 note chords.
• ANDExamples: minor quadriad, minor quadriad, dominant chord, semi-diminished chord. When a chord has more than four notes, its composition becomes more complex and the notes that are not precisely the basic chord are called "Tensions".

The sounds of the chords cause different sensations that we can describe with feelings or that we relate to ways of expressing ourselves. For example, minor chords are often used for gloomy or sad feelings, while major chords are associated with energy and joy.

Another interesting factor in chord harmony is whether the chord sounds your notes "marry" each. Each sound is in turn composed of different vibrations that we hardly perceive, we call these "Harmonics" and they are responsible for defining whether a chord is "concordant" (we find it stable and pleasant to the ear) or "dissonant" (we perceive it as unstable and unpleasant to the ear).

To have an order and logic, the musical system has an internal structure that dictates the rules of the notes that we can use and those that we should avoid. Likewise, it suggests an order and the moments in which we should play the chords. In classical music for example, many works were written in a specific tonality, so we can find it in the name of the work:

Example: Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.5 in E flat major.

The tonality is defined by the scales. It could be said that when composing or improvising, we know what notes we can use depending on the tonality. The way we recognize tonality in a work is through the "Musical armor" what is the set of accidentals (sharp or flats) which are written at the beginning of the staff and indicate the notes that make up the scale.

Examples of tonality: C major (C), F minor (Fm), B flat major (Bb).

Image: Slideplayer

The scale is a succession of notes that can be ascending (from low to high) or descending (from high to low). The grade is the number assigned to a note depending on its order on the scale. The notes have a specific order: Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la y si. A scale gets its name depending on the note where it begins and the sound distances between one note and another.

Examples of scale: C major, G minor, Doric D, La # Lidia.

The distances are different between a note and another note, this is what mainly defines the tonality and degrees, and depending on this we find the moments of tension and resolution. When a note is very close to another, it causes tension, which is the sensation we have when our ear perceives that a note or a chord must continue (resolve). In the opposite direction, resolution it is the feeling that what we hear does not need to have movement.

In combination, we know that certain grades have more tension than others and are named for that function. We call this tonal function.

Examples: Tonic, sensitive, dominant subdominant.

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Harmonic analysis requires having obtained a lot of previous knowledge, which we have mentioned above, so for now we will not explain the whole process but simply the result: Harmony analysis for the key of F major.

Scale

F Major (F, G, A, B flat, C, D, E).

Armor

It has an alteration of B flat (it is placed on the second line of the staff).

Degrees

In this case we will use quadriate

• I - F major seventh chord (Fmaj7) TONIC
• II - G minor seventh chord (Gm7) SUPERTONIC
• III - A minor seventh chord (Am7) THROUGH
• IV - B flat major seventh chord (Bbmaj7) SUBDOMINANT
• V - C dominant seventh chord (C7) DOMINANT
• VI - D minor seventh chord (Dm7) SUBMEDIANT
• VII - E minor seventh chord with diminished fifth

As you can see, in addition to being an art, music is science and mathematics. Although this information may seem overwhelming at first, it is thanks to it that we are able to understand music and then create wonderful things.

If you want to read more articles similar to Musical harmony: definition and examples, we recommend that you enter our category of Musical language.