Melody/Harmony

Understanding Melody/Harmony

• Melody can be defined as a sequence of single notes that make up a complete musical phrase.
• The direction of a melody could be ascending (upward), descending (downward), or mixed (both).
• Pitch is the degree of highness or lowness of a tone, key component in understanding a melody.
• The length of the notes in a melody affects the rhythm, another important aspect.
• Range is the distance between the highest and the lowest notes in a melody.

Exploring Scales

• Scales form the foundation of melody and harmony.
• The most commonly used scales in Western music are major scales and minor scales.
• A chromatic scale consists of 12 pitches, each a semi-tone apart.
• Pentatonic scales, consisting of five notes, are commonly used in folk music.

Understanding Harmony

• Harmony is the combination of simultaneously sounded musical notes to produce a pleasing effect.
• The simplest harmony is a dyad, or a two-note chord, while a triad is a three note chord.
• Chords are fundamental to harmony. They can be classified as major, minor, diminished and augmented.
• Harmonic progression means moving from one chord to another in a piece of music.

Exploring Harmonic Techniques

• Arpeggios refer to playing the individual notes of a chord in a sequence.
• Contrary motion means that while one melody line rises, the other falls.
• Dissonance describes a tension created by “unstable” sounding notes, which are usually resolved to ‘consonant’ chords.
• Drone refers to a sustained, continuous note or chord throughout most or all of a piece.