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AS Level – Harmony Exercises

“We often think of melody, bass and harmony as three separateelements in music, but in reality they come packaged together.Melodies are often formed from the notes of chords, and bass lines

underpin the harmonies. It is possible to play many simple pieces with just the two outer parts – melody and bass – because your inner earwill fill in the harmonies even if they are not played.

When harmonising a melody!

" #se mainly chords I, I$ and $, and sometimes ii and vi%occasionally iii&

" #se first inversions %ie Ib, $b& sometimes.

Harmonic Rhythm

'ften, the rate of harmonic change %how many chords are in each bar&increases as you approach a cadence. (ook at the e)ample *+he sh-rove.

Writing a Bass Line

fter deciding on the chords you wish to use, you need to write a bass

part.

" It should mostly move in contrary motion to the melody.

" If the melody line has a long note or a rest, it is often good tohave musical interest in the bass at these points.

" To make the bass line more interesting (or to makeopportnities !or passing notes etc"# yo may nee$ to ptsome o! the chor$s in inversions% &o can $o this$eliberately to create a better bass line' r# change the

chor$ yo have )ritten in or$er to make a moreinteresting bass line%

" #se passing notes %accented and unaccented& and au)illarynotes.

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" /ou can also use additional harmony notes – ie, instead of aminim root note, have two crotchets and use the root and thirdof the chord in the bass part.

Typical *a$ences

Ic $0 I

Ii0b $0 I

Seventh *hor$s

Most commonly, ii0 and $0.

 &o have to resolve +th

 chor$s properly,

The +th )ill clash )ith the root o! the chor$ – this note mstmove $o)n)ar$s by step in the next chor$# to a harmony note%

-iminishe$ Tria$s

1hord $II in major and minor keys, and chord ii in a minor key, arediminished. +hese sound best if the .r$ is $oble$, and in !irstinversion.

Writing in /ll Textre (. or 0 parts"

" /ou will need to double one of the notes – the best note todouble is the root, and then the 2th. 3o not double the third in4rimary +riads.

" 1heck the spacing of your accompaniment writing – ie, thedistance between the notes of the chords youve written, and thedistance between the accompaniment and the melody part.

*hor$ 1rogressions

'ften, good chord progressions contain roots which fall by a 2th or riseby a 5th.  /ou can also use se6uences. 7or e)ample, if the melody isrepeated in a se6uence and has fallen by a note, the chord se6uencecould do the same.

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2o$lating

 +o change key, you need to include chord symbols for both the newkey and the old key – starting from the pivot chord. +here then needs

to be a perfect cadence in the new key.

 /ou will then need to modulate back to the original key – using thesame method %a pivot chord, followed by a perfect cadence&