Friday, September 11, 2015

Harmonizing a Melody

Alright! Let's practice harmonizing. This will be a little different than past examples.

1) Well, the best way to practice harmonizing is to practice harmonizing, so here's another melody. First try it with one chord per bar, then try two. If you want you can even try 4, or do a hit-for-hit harmony with the chord changing every note. See what you can do!





2) In harmonizing like this, it can be very tempting to use 7th chords, because they give you access to more notes, so now seems like as good a time as any to ask: What do you think about 7th chords? Do you notice any difference in how they sound compared to triads? How about when the melody is on the seventh: Does that sound different to you than lower chord tones? If you can, try playing some of both and seeing whether they make you feel any different.

3) Does this method of harmonizing feel comfortable to you? Is there another way that you find more effective or more natural? Or do you feel like starting from the harmony and adding a melody on top works better for you? Discuss your methods!

No comments:

Post a Comment