Summary

Remember that second melody I composed called “Country in C Major”? Well, I was feeling so inspired by that melody that I decided to write a harmony to accompany that. While I was at it, I discovered how to create a proper melody and wrote my own harmony. Check it out:

My First Harmony

https://soundcloud.com/tristan-pratt-456805564/harmony-thingamajig

This is the first harmony I created, with absolutely no melody to accompany it.

Lesson Harmony

https://soundcloud.com/tristan-pratt-456805564/lesson-harmony-with-just-4

Now you’re probably thinking wow, that’s the lamest harmony ever. I know. But so many artists, like Demi Lovato and the Scorpions, based some of their songs on a similar chord progression.

One of My Favorite Harmonies

 

My Second Harmony

https://soundcloud.com/tristan-pratt-456805564/melody-in-the-key-of-c-1

This melody is supposed to go under the melody in “Country in C Major” and the harmony and melody sound really good together as well as alone. It’s in – you guessed it – C Major.

Harmony Terms

• Drone – a single note being held under a melody.
• Harmonics – hiding notes.
• Triad – a chord made out of harmonics (3 note chords).
• Polyphony – many voices.
• Progression – series of notes or chords.
• Tonic – 1st chord of a scale.
• Dominant – 5th chord of a scale.
• Passimezzo Antico – Minor mood
• Passimezzo Moderno – Major mood uses subdominant.
• Dischord – deliberate clash of two notes that don’t belong in the same triad.
• Dissonance – another word for dischord.
• Passing Notes – notes that are “passing through” to other notes.
• Suspended Notes – letting a dissonance note suspend as long as possible before shifting down to a non-dissonant tone.
• 7th Chords – A chord in which you add the seventh note to a chord. Mainly used in rock and roll.
• Diminished Chords – A chord in which you flatten the last note in a triad by a half step.
• Augmented Chords – A chord in which you sharpen the last note in the triad by a half step.

What I Learned