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say i have a melody in b minor with my right hand....i can sort of hear what should accompanient it but sometimes i cant figure it out... is there a site that can explain how to figure it out
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In order to play in harmony with the B minor melody, you have to use the chords related to the key of B minor. After all, the relative Major of B minor is D Major. So, you would use chords from the D Major diatonic scale.
D Major E minor F# minor G Major A Major B minor C# diminished D Major
But in most cases, the use of just the diatonic chords is rather boring. To make it more interesting, we can use modal mixture, which is the mixing of the chords from the parallel major, minor and parallel harmonic minor keys. When you use chords from parallel keys, the chords are said to be "borrowed chords". A common borrowed chord in the key of B minor is the use of the V or V7, which in this case is F#7(which is borrowed from the parallel Major key - B Major), which leads to the i(B minor). This is because of tritone resolution, which is the 3rd(which is the leading tone) and the 7th(which is the subtonic) of the dominant 7th chord moving toward the tonic and 3rd of the i chord.
You can also make use of the secondary dominant. A secondary dominant is a dominant chord that moves up a 4th or moves down a fifth in scale step to any one of the diatonic chords. For example, The V chord of B minor is F#7, so you can precede the F#7 chord with its secondary dominant, which would be C#7. The chordal progression of a secondary dominant leading to the the V chord is just a circle of fifths progression. Long strings of dominant 7th chords following the circle of fifths progressions are called "extended dominants."
I would just look up "harmony", or "chord progressions" in the search engine of Google to get some rudimentary foundation of harmony.
Last edited by noSkillz; 05/22/09 07:08 PM.
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i understand that but is there any way to just look at the notes in the right hand melody and immediatly know what chord would work best with it instead of going through a lot of trial and error
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Well, what do you mean by "work best"?
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Which chords to use depends on your style, the mood you're looking for (and possibly the price of oil). If you're going to treat your melody in a medieval organum-like fashion, you should use only octaves, fifths and unisons, if it's a Debussyan sound you're after, your set of chords will be vastly different.
So, what's your cup of tea?
I have an ice cream. I cannot mail it, for it will melt.
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vanillascoke asked about harmonizing a b minor melody. noSkillz gave a competent answer to which vanillascoke asked, "I understand that but is there any way to just look at the notes in the right hand melody and immediatly know what chord would work best with it instead of going through a lot of trial and error?" Now I'll offer my response.
In my mind there are 3 flavors of diatonic harmony (in a major key), I (tonic), IV (subdominant)and V (dominant). Everything else is a derivation from there. The relative minor (vi) can almost be a flavor of its own, but it's so closely related to both tonic and subdominant that I don't believe it to be completely independent. So if you want a rather unsophisticated sound you can harmonize any diatonic melody with just 3 chords.
Minor keys are different because of the various flavors of minor scales. For example in the natural minor there's no leading tone so dominant harmony doesn't exist. But of course modern ears have a hard time listening to minor mode music without a leading tone and that's why the melodic and harmonic minor scales were invented.
Most of us have studied harmony to some degree and are aware of richer options for harmonization. Add to that the fact that most great melodies include notes from outside the scale. So how do you know what is the most natural harmonization for your melody? You can use trial and error or you can do the necessary ear training to know what your mind is hearing. Frankly trial and error is something I've never gotten away from because I keep pushing the envelope. I find the exploration fun. YMMV. However it's helpful to know the diatonic chords in your head and know the sound of a secondary dominant. Add in Neopolitan and augmented sixth harmony and you'll have most standard practice harmony in your head. Exploring from there is where it gets interesting. Good luck.
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Generally if you have just a melody, there are always many variations how to harmonize it, there is never just one good. But I personally prefer holistic composition where you create melodies and harmonies simultaneously, I would bet that if you have a melody idea in your head that you also hear the appropriate harmony to it, fot me its unnatural to do it separately.
"Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend." Ludwig van Beethoven
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The only advice I can offer is to become more familiar with chord progressions. You can hear the progression in your mind, you just can't find it on the piano. Spend time every day remember the sound of chord changes and this will save you a lot of time compared to trial and error.
Of course you can surprise yourself with trial and error and your composition can take a nice new direction you didn't expect.
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Firstly, I have faith in the idea that if a melody is to withstand development into a great piece it must be adaptable to at least a set of chord progressions underlying it, so the art of writing this "highly evolvable" melody itself is also worth studying.
Answering your question, I like campidiot's idea. Within the realms of standard harmony there are only a few "basic" harmonic progressions that are modified and combinatorially used according to the texture and the structure of each musical passage. It's then a matter of educated inspection of your melody (this is where music theory helps a lot) to filter out a large volume of "unsuitable" progressions, leaving few that you can explore.
If you're only beginning composing, maybe you have a musical inspiration in mind: "I like to write something that affects me musically as Piece X does". Then listen to Piece X and try to see what is being done in it and why it's affecting you that way. Then try to test your understanding by reproducing that phenomenon (this doesn't just apply to chord progression but also rhythmic structure, contrapuntal structure, whatever). Pieces by various composers from Mozart to Grieg to Rachmaninoff to Uematsu have taught me volumes without having really studied music "theory" formally.
Maybe you can post your melody in B minor and let other composers in the this forum describe how they might harmonise it given each's stylistic preference? You'll see why each of them choose to do things differently and how various solutions are possible. I feel demonstration of a concrete example is more likely to help you grasp the essentials of harmonisation than abstract descriptions and generalised advice.
Last edited by Tar; 05/24/09 05:35 AM.
Tar Viturawong Amateur composer and pianist Known on YouTube as pianoinspirationverbis defectis musica incipit
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Maybe you can post your melody in B minor and let other composers in the this forum describe how they might harmonise it given each's stylistic preference? You'll see why each of them choose to do things differently and how various solutions are possible. I feel demonstration of a concrete example is more likely to help you grasp the essentials of harmonisation than abstract descriptions and generalised advice.
Excellent idea! I'm sure many here would accept the challenge, and probably no two would be the same.
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I start with a bass line, writing counterpoint to the melody, then fill in the inner voices with whatever figuration seems to fit.
"If we continually try to force a child to do what he is afraid to do, he will become more timid, and will use his brains and energy, not to explore the unknown, but to find ways to avoid the pressures we put on him." (John Holt) www.pianoped.comwww.youtube.com/user/UIPianoPed
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well im not to sure what program i would need to upload it but this is a pretty crude way http://img41.imageshack.us/my.php?image=examplem.jpgi think the first chord should be B minor
Last edited by vanillascoke; 05/24/09 11:41 AM.
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You have a melody that lends itself well to romantic style harmonisation. Respectfully ignoring the tempo indication of 120 bpm, here's my "first impression" stab at making a Waltz-style accompaniment to it (I added three more bars of "minimal" extensions just to make it into an 8-bar phrase): Listen It basically exploits the falling trend of your melody (circled). Its rich chromaticism means I can be relatively "bare" with the accompaniment to achieve the romantic effect. A tenor voice resolution (Bar 3, G->F#, not actually observed in the recording) adds interest to the passage. The progression is Bm, G (on B), F# (on A#) F#m (on A), E (on G#). By using the median for each chord as the root, I avoid bar-scale parallel octaves with the melody and instead create nice descending parallel sixths all the way along. As indicated with the blue lines, the essential "feel" of this progression is I-V-IV-V, so nothing fancy!
Last edited by Tar; 05/24/09 03:00 PM.
Tar Viturawong Amateur composer and pianist Known on YouTube as pianoinspirationverbis defectis musica incipit
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thats amazing!!! thank you very much
Last edited by vanillascoke; 05/24/09 02:59 PM.
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Tar,
Just listened. And loved what you did with his melody! Absolutely brilliant. And a nice piece of music too! Except now, it's kinda your piece.
Where did you learn composition?
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Very impressive Tar, Sounds good.
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Thanks chaps. I'd be interested to see how others would harmonise this too! Ed, I've never taken composition lessons. I took a short course in music theory 12 years ago... (it was very basic, I was ten!) Ever since, I learnt composition at the piano
Tar Viturawong Amateur composer and pianist Known on YouTube as pianoinspirationverbis defectis musica incipit
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Here's my entry: harmonized melody First, I had to figure out what the overall feel is. To my ears, it sounds very much like a folk melody - something akin to a waltz or mazurka. I started with b minor, then the g in the 2nd bar strongly suggests a iv chord. The iv chord, which is predominant, likes to be followed by a dominant chord. This is further strengthened by the F#-C# in the 3rd bar, which strongly suggests a dominant chord. Since the E# serves as a leading tone to the F#, I threw in a secondary dominant (viio7/V, to be exact), and this also created a nice descending line in the top voice of the LH. The fourth bar gets tricky. It outlines the same F#-C# as the 3rd bar, with some chromatic passing tones in between, but using the same harmony seemed too static to me. So I started playing around with some different ideas, and found that I could imply a i6 chord. The F-E-D line in the LH between mm. 3-4 imitates the LH E-D-C# in mm. 2-3, and the G Major harmony (VI) balances the previous predominant well. (Earlier, I used a secondary dominant which rose UP to the F# chord in m. 3, and here I use a submediant which leads DOWN to the F# chord in m. 5.) A simple V7-i cadence closes it. There were two challenges. One, it is uncommon for melodies like this to be five measures long. Most waltz and mazurka melodies would simply be four measures and lend themselves to a simple tonic-predominant-dominant-tonic harmony, one chord per bar. The "extra" measure here meant decorating (or prolonging, in Schenkerian terms) the dominant harmony in mm. 3-4 in a way that doesn't sound static or lose tension. The second challenge was the 4th bar. Finding a harmony that works naturally with both the D# and the D is tricky. My solution was to change harmony on the 3rd beat, since I couldn't find anything that sounded right for the entire bar. All this analysis is (mostly) after the fact. I stole the basic texture from Chopin's Waltzes and Mazurkas, some of the contrapuntal ideas are just a part of my own style (I stole the idea of a 3-note descending motif I used in the LH from measure 2 of the melody.) The rest was just fiddling around in Sibelius and singing and playing the accompaniment on the tabletop to make sure it 'felt' right. (I'm too lazy to walk downstairs to the piano right now...) Fun exercise!
"If we continually try to force a child to do what he is afraid to do, he will become more timid, and will use his brains and energy, not to explore the unknown, but to find ways to avoid the pressures we put on him." (John Holt) www.pianoped.comwww.youtube.com/user/UIPianoPed
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Kreisler, I can imagine your bars 2-3 being part of an "Adagio" baroque piece, reminds me of the Second Brandenberg Concerto (second movement). Think the raised sixth in bar 2 and the walking bass the in the next bar did it. Interesting
Tar Viturawong Amateur composer and pianist Known on YouTube as pianoinspirationverbis defectis musica incipit
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okay-- http://img40.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bminormelody.jpgjust an a further example--- would you use the same steps you used to harmonize the rest? if you do, can you put it in a step by step explanation as to what you are did? also can you explain what you meant by "By using the median for each chord as the root, I avoid bar-scale parallel octaves with the melody and instead create nice descending parallel sixths all the way along." i haven't really taken music theory but i think what you mean is you are using the middle note of each chord as the first note? to avoid "bar-scale" parallel octaves--- thats boring right??? also i understand what you are doing with the root notes, but how did you come up with the chords--- like the G after the first Bm kreisler i think your intepration is brilliant too even though i can barely understand half of what is in your post your left hand sounds a lot more like counterpoint/less waltz-like (is that the term) P.S Where did you guys learn all this? is it just playing many pieces and noting whats happening with them? or is there a book that will explain most of this
Last edited by vanillascoke; 05/24/09 11:49 PM.
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