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Harmony is what gives music its color and flavor, and it is by far the most talked-about part of music theory. Today we’ll gather a thorough understanding of the answer to “What is harmony in music?”, explore the effect different chords have on harmony and look at a few examples.
In This Guide
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What is Harmony in Music?
Harmony is simply when two or more different musical notes are heard at any time. When we talk about harmony in music theory, we are generally referring to chords and chord progressions.
Harmony vs Melody
There is a key difference between harmony vs melody: melody is made up of single notes, played one at a time. A melody can have harmony underneath it, but we automatically label just the top note of the harmony as a part of the melody.
How is Harmony Used in Music?
A harmony could be from the same instrument, for example, a chord on the piano, or it could be from a group of instruments or voices, such as a choir. The following could be considered an example of music harmony:
- Chords on a guitar in rock music. The guitarist will strike multiple strings at once, which creates harmony.
- An orchestral performance in classical music. Each instrument plays one note (violin, flute, oboe, and all the rest!) and together they create harmony.
- A jazz piano solo. The pianist presses down multiple keys at once to create harmony.
- Backing vocal harmonies for songs (e.g. pop or folk). The backing singers build a chord based on the main vocalist’s note.
So, what is harmony for? With harmony, we can create a wide range of colorful sounds to match the mood of our music. We can also create satisfying tension and release when harmony changes as our music progresses.
How Does Harmony Work?
When discussing harmony, we label each chord according to where its root note is in the scale. We use Roman numerals rather than numbers to represent each chord.
For example, if we were in A major, we would have:
| Position | Chord | I | A major |
|---|---|
| II | B minor |
| III | C# minor |
| IV | D major |
| V | E major |
| VI | F# minor |
| VII | G♯ diminished |
We use upper-case numerals for major chords and lowercase for minor chords.
The 7 chords can be divided into three categories based on their function.
- Tonic – I, III and VI. These chords are restful and stable, they feel like “home”.
- Dominant – V and VII. These are the opposite, they are full of tension and give a feeling that we are going on a journey in the music.
- Subdominant – II and IV. These are the in-between chords, they act like a bridge between the two.
You can see an example of music harmony in action by going through the chords of your favorite songs and writing down the Roman numerals. This will allow you to see how the harmony progresses through these three different functions!
Consonance and Dissonance
When writing harmonies for songs, we can use a dissonant sound to create tension at the peak point of our musical phrase and a consonant sound to create release afterwards.
These are not clear-cut categories, but generally, anything which sounds “pleasant” is considered consonant and anything “tense” or “harsh” is dissonant.
Examples of consonance include: major chords, minor chords, and perfect 5ths.
Examples of dissonance include: diminished chords, suspended chords, and minor 2nds.
Close vs. Open Harmony
We can also consider how far apart our notes are in terms of pitch, a concept also known as ‘voicing’. This is another great example of music harmony being used to create a different ‘feel’.
‘Close’ harmony refers to when the notes are close together, while in ‘open’ harmony they are more spread out.
Let’s use a Cmaj7 chord as an example. It has the notes C, E, G and B. If we stack these notes directly on top of each other, we create close harmony.
If we move the E and the B up an octave, we now have the same chord with open harmony.
An Example of Music Harmony
What is harmony like in popular music? Check out the 4 Chords Song by The Axis of Awesome – this video demonstrates how many of our favorite popular songs use the same basic chord pattern of I – V – vi – IV!
An example of music harmony from the classical world now is Debussy’s ‘Clair de Lune’. Debussy often liked to use close harmony to create a dense sound. In the first few phrases, it’s easy to hear how he switches between tonic functioning chords and dominant ones to create tension and release.
In Summary
Harmony is simply when more than one note is heard at a time, and yet it is one of the most-analyzed parts of music. Important points to remember are:
Harmony vs. melody: A melody is made up of single notes, whereas harmony involves multiple.
- Harmony has two purposes: to create the right ‘mood’ and ‘color’ in our music and to create tension and release.
- Harmony generally refers to chords, which are labelled according to their numbered place in the scale.
- Chords can have one of three different functions: tonic, dominant, and subdominant.
- Harmony can be consonant (pleasant) or dissonant (harsh).
- Notes in harmony can be close together or spread apart.
Alex Martin
Alex is a professional musician and content writer, with a BSc from Leeds Becketts University in Creative Music & Sound Design Technology.
