Harmony Archives - Instrumentality

Harmony

Walking with Pythagoras

Pythagoras is often thought of as the 'father of harmony.' He believed that mathematics could explain everything, including music. On the basis that playing with notes is just playing with audible numbers, I had a go at walking with Pythagoras.

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In search of the lost chord

The search for that lost perfect chord which will melt us on the spot has been going on some time. So, what have people come up with?

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Quartal harmony – a chance to throw away the rule book

Quartal harmony is based on 4th intervals rather than 3rds. Want to know what that sounds like in practice? Step right in.

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Raising the odds – from 7ths to 13ths

When you extend chords, with 9ths, 11ths and 13ths, you can obtain some rich harmonies that inspire innovative melodies. Time to give them a try?

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Five rules for creating three-part harmonies

You can't beat the impact made by three or more voices singing in harmony. But how do you work out what the harmonies should be? Time to find out.

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Two-part harmony usually does the trick

Two-part vocal and instrumental harmonising is so widespread we take it for granted. But what should the harmony be? Do we calculate it or just do it?

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Augmented chords: simply irresistible

Augmented chords don't get much of a look-in these days but they're easy to play and use, and they create an irresistible tension. Time to take a look.

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When diminishing is a good thing

The idea of chords that are diminished in some way might put you off, but they are easy to play and take your compositions into sophisticated territory.

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The lazy person’s tour of the triads

Six, three-note chords form the foundation of nearly all Western music. If you're a keyboard player, you need move only one finger at a time to find them.

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Four chords seem enough for most people

New research shows that your typical Billboard hit has an average of four chords. Is that too many or too few? Does it matter?

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