What is harmony?
Harmony is the sound created when two or more sounds of different How high or low a musical sound is. are played at the same time.
The sounds you choose to play or sing together, create different harmonies and help the listener feel different emotions.
Harmonies can turn a good song into a great song!
Watch: How about a little harmony?
GIRL 1: Good tune guys!
GIRL 2: Bang, bang, boom boom!
BOY 1: Hang on, you’re playing my part, Ed.
BOY 2: Er, I am? I-I thought it was my part.
GIRL 3: Actually, you’re ALL playing my part. Copycats
LEMM: Woah, guys. Chill. How about a little… # Harmony! #
BOY 2: Woah! How’d you do that?
LEMM: # Let me show you! #
BOY 1: Whoa! That’s one BIG keyboard!
LEMM: For one BIG harmony! Right Ed, You sing this note.
BOY 1: # Ba-ba-ba, Ba-Barbara Ann #
LEMM: Hit it Izzy!
GIRL 1: # Ba-ba-ba, Ba-Barbara Ann #
LEMM: This is harmony. It’s the sound created when two or more notes are played at the same time.
BOY 2: What id we add a third note?
LEMM :# Ba-ba-ba, Ba-Barbara Ann #
GIRL 3: # You’ve got me rockin’ and a-rollin’ #
GIRL 2: # Rockin’ and a-reelin’ Barbara Ann #
ALL: # Ba-ba-ba, Ba-Barbara Ann #
BOY 2: How did we all know the words?
GIRL 2: We should totally use harmony in our song!
LEMM: Yeah! Every song has harmony and writing harmony means using chords which are two or more notes sounding together! This is a major chord which sounds happy. Why don’t you give it a crack?
BOY 2: Hey, this chord doesn’t sound happy like before
BOY 1: Makes me feel sad.
GIRL 1: Don’t cry
LEM: That’s a minor chord! Different harmonies can create # different moods! # Ooh! Try srating on B!
GIRL 2: Whoah, that’s well scary!
GIRL 3: I like it
LEMM: Me too! I use harmonies like this in my song ‘No place like’.
BOY 2: Seriously, how does she do that?!
LEMM: My song has a pattern of chords which takes your ears and imaginations on a journey. # I start on A, then I hop to G then back to A, and then end with G. #
GIRL 2: So these chords… they go under the rest of the music?
GIRL 1: And the melody and stuff goes on top?
LEMM: Exactly!
BOY 1: We could start with G and move to F.
BOY 2: And then go C?
GIRL 3: And back to G.
LEMM: And that is how you do it!
How to create a harmony
Harmonies are made up of . When notes are played together it makes a chord.
Chords can be created by combining voices or musical instruments. Some instruments like the guitar, harp and piano play multiple pitches at once. They can play chords on their own.
A voice can only create chords when you have two or more people singing different pitches at the same time.
There are lots of different chords and each can be made up of two or more notes. The most common chords are major chords, which tend to sound happy and minor chords, which tend to sound sad.
Harmony isn't just about the sounds made by playing one chord at a time. It's also about how the music sounds when you move from one chord to another.
Watch: Creating chords on a keyboard
Discover how to create major and minor chords using a keyboard with this video.
Mrs Thomas: When notes are played together they created a chord. There are so many different chords and each can be made up of two or more notes.
Naomi: So could you maybe have a chord with twelve notes?
Mrs Thomas: Well, yes in theory.
Naomi: But I don’t think i’ve got enough fingers for that, I’m going to have to use some toes aswell.
Mrs Thomas: Oh, there’s no need to get your toes out. Let’s start with three notes, C, E and G. Can you find them on your keyboard?
Naomi: Here’s C, this is E, and this one’s G.
Mrs Thomas: And now play them together. What do you think?
Naomi: I like that chord it sounds happy.
Mrs Thomas: Yeah, well that’s because you just played something called a major chord. Major chords tend to sound happy. Now let’s try a different one. Can you find A, C and E?
Naomi: Oh, that sounds a bit sad, or even scary.
Mrs Thomas: Yes, well that one was an example of a minor chord, they tend to sound sad. It’s not just about how one chord sounds on it’s own. It’s what the music sounds like when you move from one chord to the other that makes the listener feel a certain way.
Naomi: Now how about those bigger chords, you still haven’t explained how you can play them without using my toes.
How are chords written down?
In traditional music , we write chords by stacking the different notes on top of each other like this:
You can also write chords using symbols which is often used by pop and jazz musicians.
Watch this video to see and hear different chords played on piano.
Guitarists will often read chords using tablature or tabs for short.
Tabs are diagrams with chord symbols that show exactly where to place your fingers on the guitar.
Activities
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