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Episode 10 of the Art of Composing Podcast. In this episode, you’ll get a good grasp of what harmony is and why harmony works the way it does. If you’ve ever wanted to know how to create a chord progression from scratch, this is the episode for you.
What is in this episode:
- The basis for our harmony – the overtone series
- How functional chord progressions work
- How to add chromatic harmony to your chord progressions
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Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:
Here are the charts mentioned in the episode. If you’re interested more in using these charts, you can check out my article on diatonic harmony.
Major
Minor
Wow! When I started this podcast I thought it was going to be a review of what I already knew. Not so! I’ve learned a lot of stuff and realized I needed to listen to it again in front of a keyboard this time. There is a ton of useful and PRACTICAL information in this podcast!
Thanks Jean-Francois. The real secret is spending time with basics concepts at the piano, and really meditating on them. It will open up a lot of possibilities.
Yes, it helped me a lot too.
Very interesting.
Hi Jon-
I loved your podcast but I can see I will need to listen a few times lol.
My question is in regards to the Dimitri charts for major and minor scales.
These really helped clarify a lot, however, with regards to the arrows (at the risk of sounding dumb) there are no arrows for backward motion for the IV and ii. Are they not allowed to move backwards?
I am a grad student at UF and I get assignments that include these types of questions :
Make the best common practice choice for the ?:
i > v4/2 > ? > ii half dim 6/5 > i 6/4
Choices:
1. III 2. iv 3. VI 4. i 5. i6
I chose #3 as the best answer
Other questions that stump me are with regards to borrowed chords like this one:
I > I6 > I5/3 > ? > bVI > ii half-dim 6/5 to V
Choices:
1. viio 2. V7 3. iii 4. IV 5. ii7
My interpretation is the bVI substitutes for IV making the only choices between V7 and iii?
I’m very new as you can see.
For the first one, I would pick the i6, because the V4/2 has the 4th scale degree in the bass. This will give good voice leading and bass motion to the i6, which has the 3rd scale degree in the bass.
The I 5/3 is a little odd there, but I would have to also go with IV being the best choice to my ears.
Remember, the functional aspect of harmony is just one aspect. Voice leading plays a huge role. You have to look at both.
Not sure which textbook you are using, but there are usually some piano exercises to play through. I would recommend playing through them, but also analyzing as you go. Look at the movement in the voices, listen to what they sound like. Sing the voices as they move.
Harmony is as much about how it sounds as it is about how it theoretically works.
I Love your podcasts John!
At 21:24 I got a bit confused:
I understand that we take: Tonic > Dominant of dominant = applied dominant > Dominant > Tonic.
However in your example you start on C and say that the Applied Dominant for Minor A chord is E7
So your progression os C>E7>Amin. A re you perceiving A minor as a Tonic in the A minor scale or A major Scale? IF it was A minor would it not be E minor that is the Dominant?
Kind regards
Christian
It’s because in minor, we basically still borrow the dominant chord from major. So in A minor and A major, the dominant chord is E major.
My only composing ambitions are in improvisations on the piano. I came here through a web search on harmony theory and this episode was a great intro to functional harmony, thanks!
Glad you liked it.
Hi John-
Enjoyed the above episode , but I don’t understand how the vi min chord in the major
scale could be considered a Tonic.
For a few reasons.
Ultimately, the syntax of harmony is built out of what composers have actually done in the past, not necessarily because of some physical property of the harmony itself. And tonal composers have functionally treated vi as tonic.
wow 🙂
Hi Jon
Love your teachings on the basics of harmony. Very inspiring indeed!
I’ve been composing since I was 15 after discovering your empowering website and it’s content
So far I’ve composed 22 pieces for the piano, I feel that I am starting to grasp the different aspects of music
But, I have wondered about something you barely mention whilst explaining harmony – the third
What is it that makes the third chord of a given scale not mentioned in the functional harmony chart or even by you.
I’ve always been wondering about it since I joined this resourceful website of yours. Haven’t really understood the functionality of the third.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks. The iii chord is tricky, but effectively it is not functional. I’ll see if I can write an article about it, because the question comes up a lot.
Hi Jon – great podcast and website. I’m definitely learning a lot here!
Any playing example you gave on this episode I would pause playback and figure it out by ear on my piano. I’m beginning understand the harmony decisions you made as obviously outlined by your talk, but I don’t understand what drives the chord voicing decisions. Often times your choosing 3rd or 2nd inversions of these chords – are there theoretical reasons for this, or are these your personal preferences you’ve developed over the years?
Thanks!
There are some standard inversions. Usually, the ii chord is in first inversion when used in a cadence. Other than that, I am just choosing inversions that will give me a decent bass line.
Hi Jon, I have really enjoyed the podcasts and I truly appreciate the detailed guidance!
I love the sound and structure of functional harmony, it somehow makes harmony a more manageable subject to grasp. Something that confuses me though is “modal harmony”, which revolves around the modes (dorian, mixolydian etc.). In the mixolydian scale for instance the chords become altered compared to a standard major scale. In this podcast you talk about “modal mixture” which seems logical enough. Can I think of modal mixture as a way of borrowing chords form as you mention the harmonic minor scale, but also chords from modes like for instance the mixolydian scale?
Once again thanks a lot!
Benjamin,
It is important to make the distinction between modal harmony and modal mixture. With modal mixture, we are using functional harmony but pulling chords from either the major or minor scale in a single progression. There is some room for pulling from other modes. For instance, I hear the lydian mode used frequently – particularly in film music when things are feeling light and happy. But this is the exception. For the most part, modal borrowing refers to the major scale, and the harmonic minor scale (which is not a church mode). But you would not be wrong saying you could borrow a chord from the mixolydian scale.
Modal harmony works different. Remember, it came about prior to functional harmony, and really is all about voice leading. Every voice moves depending on the other voices, and is only allowed to go to specific intervals away from the other voices. This leads to harmony… but it is not usually functional, and also doesn’t tend to have the same centricity (meaning the feeling of resolution and goal directed-ness to tonic) as functional harmony.
Oh, I see modal harmony and modal mixture is complety different subjects then. Modal harmony seems to have a very different feel than functional harmony. I remember in high school my music teacher was talking about modal harmony frequently being used in pop/rock/folk/rhythmic music, and functional harmony being the building blocks of classical music. It seems like two different kinds of aesthetics. I guess the thing I enjoy so much about functional harmony is exactly the feeling of tension (V) and resolution (I).
Thanks for the quick answer Jon, it cleared up some concerns 🙂
Cheers!