The term harmony comes from a Greek word that translates literallyĪs “means of joining” and is related to the word for joint orĪncient Greek music, the term referred to the juxtaposition ofĭifferent elements, but since the musical practice of the time did The deviation from the standard is usually referred to as microtonality. It turns out that using 12 pitches per octave is the result of a compromise, but there has been an interest throughout history to consider scales with fewer or many more pitches per octave or other intervals. The pitch of the individual tones within a scale depends on a variety of factors which have undergone changes throughout history as composers focussed on aspects such as pure sonorities or being able to modulate to distant key areas. They usually span the interval of an octave and repeat when going beyond it. Scales (derived from Italian scala meaning “staircase”) are the collection of pitches, harmonies and melodies are formed from. We will also look at the effects that tuning systems have on harmony. The task of defining harmony is a difficult one - is it a chord or a progression of chords? How are harmony and harmonic progression different from timbre and timbral evolution? In this unit, we will discuss these questions and look at how composers in the 20th and 21st centuries view harmony. In more general terms, harmony also denotes the pleasing or congruent arrangement of parts.Īs we can see from the above definition, the word harmony often refers to either a chord, a progression of chords, or a consonant (or generally speaking, pleasing) sonority. Webster’s dictionary defines harmony in reference to music as (1) the combination of simultaneous musical notes in a chord, (2) the structure of music with respect to the composition and progression of chords or (3) the science of the structure, relation, and progression of chords. ![]() ![]() we expect chords to have low sensory consonance and we also are keenly aware of when chords don’t seem to fit in a passage of music. Harmony is beased on those principles, e.g. ![]() In units 4 and 5 we have already learned about consonance and dissonance as well as pitch, intervals and key areas. In this unit we will look at scales and harmony from the perspective of perception and cognition of music. Divisions of Intervals Other than the Octave.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |