Bach had an interesting approach in teaching his students harmonization. His students had to begin with pure four-part continuo realizations.
From there he taught them harmonizing the chorales. But not supplying the three lower parts, as usual. Instead he wrote the bass for them and they only had to supply the alto and the tenor. It makes sense. When the bass is given, the process is already half finished. All the students had to do was to see what kind of harmony did the bass notes imply and from there to add the two missing parts. Finally, he asked them to create the bass themselves. This means they were ready to supply the choral tune with the three lower parts. Apparently Bach even often composed in this order. In his autograph of the Orgelbuchlein chorales preludes, often the bass notes are more prominent. The alto and the tenor appear to be squeezed in later on. Do you see what it means? It means that Bach already had a piece finished in his mind when he created the bass line. Try supplying the alto and the tenor parts for this chorale and you will find out how much easier it is to work in this order as opposed to creating all three lower parts right from the beginning.
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Since a few of my students asked me to explain in detail the concept of modulation, today I'm going to share with you a plan for modulating from C major to D minor. Because the note D is the 2nd scale degree in C major, the D minor key could be called the key of the 2nd scale degree in relationship with C major.
In order for this modulation to be easy to understand, I will use the chords in the treble clef only. This modulation will have 4 steps: 1. Establishment of the 1st key 2. A common chord 3. A modulating chord 4. Establishment of the 2nd key with the cadence. As you can see in the above picture, we can establish C major with a few basic chords (T, S and D). Here I chose the tonic chord, subdominant 2nd inversion chord which resolves to the tonic and the dominant 1st inversion chord which resolves to the tonic. This tonic chord is a common chord for both C major and D minor - in D minor it's called the chord of the 7th scale degree or the Subdominant of the Subdominant (SS). Then comes the modulating chord. This usually should be the chord which has a new accidental of the D minor key (either Bb or C# - 7th raised scale degree). It is best to use a dissonant four-note chord for this purpose. I chose II34 chord (that's a 2nd inversion of the seventh-chord of the 2nd scale degree. The last step is to form a cadence in the new key - that's why you can see tonic 2nd inversion and D7 which resolves to the new tonic. Try to play this exercise on your instrument. If you know how to do it, you can use four-part texture (SATB) with or without the pedals for the bass line placing the tenor part in the left hand. After this modulation becomes easy, transpose it to G major, F major, D major and Bb major. What happens when you know all the T, S, and D root position chords and want to use their inversions?
How to employ D7 and its inversions correctly? What is the most convenient way to modulate to remote keys? What are the names of the most important cadences and how do I use them in my harmonizations? After I have created Harmony for Organists Level 1 course, a few of the people have asked me similar questions about more advanced concepts in harmonizing a melody. These are the concepts which make the basic harmonizations with just T, S, and D chords more colorful. If you knew how to take your harmonizations to the next level, they would begin to sound like real 4-part compositions, not just exercises. In order to help you in this process, I have created 4 special video trainings in harmony which are sort of continuation of the Level 1 course. It's not exactly Level 2 (a longer 12-16 week course is needed for that) but I thought people who know the basic concepts already will find these videos very helpful. If this offer isn't for you, that's okay, there are others it might be a better match for. A few organists asked me to demonstrate how I would harmonize a scale. So today I would like to share with you how you can do it using simple three-note chords. Mostly they are root position chords but in one instance you will need a first inversion chord as well.
If you want to master scale harmonization, transpose this exercise to every major and minor key (on paper or at the instrument). The starting point is here in closed position, but it's possible to begin the soprano one octave higher in open position (chords C-G-E-C and A-E-C-A). Knowledge and mastery of harmony is very important to every organist. Therefore I teach these and many other concepts in great detail in my Harmony for Organists Level 1 course. Yesterday I shared with you the harmonization of Gregorian chant sequence Dies irae in four parts. What was unusual with this exercise is that the chords were in the style of 20th century French modal organ composers. If you haven't seen the score, here are the PDF and MIDI files.
After this post a few people asked me to describe the rules of this type of harmonization so that they could learn to harmonize like that themselves. So today I decided to go into greater detail of how I do it. 1. Use three note major and minor chords only (such as C-E-G or A-C-E). 2. In four-part setting, double the root of the chord (in C major chord, double the note C). 3. When the melody descends, use closed position of the chords, when the melody ascends - open position. 4. Whenever possible, avoid parallel movement in all parts within the sentence - use as much contrary motion in the bass. 5. At least one voice has to be stationary or go to the opposite direction that others. 6. Avoid perfect 4th and 5th relationship in the chords because this will sound like in traditional classical tonal harmony (T-D, D-T, T-S, S-T). One possible exception of this rule might be at the very ending of the piece, but even then it's probably better to find other options. In my example, the last two chords are B minor and E minor. Now when I'm thinking about it, I would change B minor chord to D major. At any rate, minor-minor chords at the end are better than major-major because this eliminates D-T feeling. 7. Instead use major and minor third relationship between two chords up or down (such as C major - Eb major). 8. Major and minor second relationship up or down is also good (such as C major - Db major). 9. A tritone relationship sounds wonderful (such as C major - F# major). 10. If you have no other choice and have to use perfect 4th and 5th relationship between two chords, let one chord be major and another minor or vice versa (such as C major - F minor. 11. It is OK to use one major and one minor chord and vice versa, if they are not closely related (not only in instances, like in No. 10). 12. In general, the wider the distance of the two chords or keys within the circle of fifths, the better. Apply these rules (in writing and/or in improvisation, because you can learn to do it spontaneously on the spot) on any hymn tune you want - chant, chorales, hymns, folk songs, even the National Anthem of your country. I'm sure your listeners will have something to talk about. P.S. We only used major and minor triads in root position and the result is pretty colorful, I think. Imagine, what would happen, if we chose their inversions or diminished and augmented chords as well as seventh-chords and ninth-chords and their inversions? The color range would skyrocket in such case. That's what all these 20th century French master organists and composers did. You can do it, too. A few days ago I received this question from one of my students in Harmony for Organists Level 1 course. The problem is with determining if the three-note chord is a root-position, first or a second inversion chord. I thought this question could be important to other people as well, so today I decided to answer this burning question for many organists once and for all in this article.
Most of the people know that the chord C-E-G (from the bottom up) is a root position chord. It has two inversions: E-G-C (a 6th chord) and G-C-E (a 64th chord). The theory behind this concept is very simple. In root position chord, there are no intervals of the fourth, only two thirds. In the first inversion chord, we see a third and a fourth and in the second inversion chord, a fourth and a third. The most dificcult part in determining the inversion of the chord is when the chord is presented in four-part harmony notation. In this case, one note of the three-note chord has to be doubled. In root position chord, we usually double the root, in first inversion chord - the root or the fifth, and in the second inversion chord - the fifth. But we must not forget that the chords could be written in open or closed (or even mixed) position, too. In the closed position, the distance between the three upper voices is no more than a fourth. In open position, from a fifth up to an octave. If some intervals are a fourth or less and some - more than a fifth, then such a chord is written in mixed position. This normally applies to first inversion chords. Depending on which chordal tone is in the soprano, the melodic position could be root, third or a fifth. So you can see that even in root position chords there are 6 different versions: 3 in closed position (C-E-G-C, C-G-C-E, and C-C-E-G) and 3 in open position (C-G-E-C, C-C-G-E, and C-E-C-G). So the key steps in determining the inversion of the three-note chord are these: 1. Take the bass note of the chord and build the three-note chord without any doubling. 2. Then you will see, if the chord has only two thirds (a root position chord), a fourth on the top (a first inversion chord) or a fourth on the bottom (a second inversion chord). That's it. It's really that simple. If you apply the above steps, you will have no trouble in determining the inversion of the three-note chord. Recently I have received a question from one of my subscribers about how to harmonize Gregorian chant melodies. In particular, he was interested in harmonizing the cadences.
As we all know, this type of music is modal, not tonal in nature. Therefore, some things which you read about tonal harmony can't be applicable here. Often the problems arise when we want to use D-T chordal progressions. Today I would like to share with you my personal recommendations which I hope you will find useful. Here is how you can harmonize the melodies of Gregorian chant: 1. Figure out the mode of the chant. 2. Compare it with the major or minor by finding out which scale degrees are different. 3. Harmonize the chant as you would in major or minor but in chords which have different scale degrees don't use foreign accidentals. 4. This way your cadences will have a harmony which works with your particular mode. 5. If the phrase ends on II-I in the soprano and the mode is similar to major but has a lowered leading tone, then you can play a minor dominant chord and a tonic. 6. If in the same mode the phrase ends on VII-I in the soprano, then you can play the first inversion of the chord of the seventh scale degree and the tonic. 7. If the mode is similar to minor but has a lowered second scale degree and the phrase ends on II-I, then you can play the root position chord of the seventh scale degree and the tonic. 8. If in the same mode the phrase ends on VII-I, you can play the first inversion of the chord of the seventh scale degree and the tonic. Likewise, you can figure out other chords from the natural tones of the mode. Try this approach today for yourself and share your experience in the comments. Harmonize the above melody with pencil in 4 parts (SATB) using Tonic (built on the 1st scale degree), Subdominant (built on the 4th scale degree), and Dominant (built on the 5th scale degree) chords in root position.
Try to avoid parallel fifths and octaves and try to keep at least one voice in each progression moving in the opposite direction than the others or stationary. Also avoid using S chord after D chord. As you are writing always be conscious about the notes of the Tonic (F, A, and C), the Subdominant (Bb, D, and F), and the Dominant (C, E, and G) chord in F major. This means that F in the melody could mean S or T chords, G - D chord, A - T chord, Bb - S chord, C - T or D chords, D - S chord, and E - D chord. Here is the PDF file for printing. After you have completed the exercise, play it on the keyboard to see if you like your harmonization. Post your time to comments. I think every organist understands the necessity of studying music theory at some point or another. This gives us the ability to understand how the music is put together and see the meaningful patterns on the page instead of a bunch of unconnected notes which for some unknown reason happen to sound beautifully.
Of course, the field of music theory is quite broad ranging from scales to rhythms, intervals, chords, modulations, formal procedures, ornamentation etc. To learn everything takes quite a bit of time, usually at least up to 36 weeks of intense studying. But are there any minimum skills in music theory which would be absolutely necessary to learn but would not take as much time? In other words, what would happen if we learned only the most practically needed concepts in a few weeks first and leave the more advanced stuff for later study as we move forward? I think this approach is quite valid and practical for many of today's aspiring organists. Here are the few key things they would need to learn first in music theory: 1) Half-step and whole-step 2) Tetrachords 3) Major and minor scale 4) Stable and unstable steps of the scale 5) Diatonic intervals of the natural major and minor scale (up to an octave) 6) Circle of fifths 7) Triads 8) Tonic, Dominant, and Subdominant chords and their inversions I'm including all these elements of music theory in Weeks 1 and 2 of my Harmony for Organists Level 1 course. They will serve as an introduction and preparation for training in four-part harmony and voice-leading. By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide. Because some people asked me for it, I decided that my new Harmony for Organists Level 1 will be a video course. I think that the visual aspect will help my students to understand the material better. However, the nature of the topic of harmony is such that it would also be good to actually see the musical examples and exercises, so I will also include PDF files along with the video.
These last few days were especially intense for me with less sleep than normal. On Sunday I recorded the videos of Weeks 1 and 2 so that people could begin studying immediately. And yesterday I created the accompanying PDF file with musical examples and exercises for practice. Some people asked me that the pricing options would include a monthly subscription WITHOUT an increase in price in comparison to the one time payment which is exactly what I did. I'm keeping the price as much affordable as possible for everybody. So if you want to master the basics of harmony and be able to harmonize simple melodies and hymn-tunes in 4 parts on the organ and on paper, check this course out here. |
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Drs. Vidas Pinkevicius and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene Organists of Vilnius University , creators of Secrets of Organ Playing. Our Hauptwerk Setup:
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