Harmony: the sound of more than one note played simultaneously. The definition seems simple enough, but harmony and its effects on the brain have been the subject of questions since the first time two notes were ever heard at the same time. For now, we will leave that discussion to the scholars.
Harmonies abound in our daily lives. The sound of birds singing in the trees blends with children’s voices on a playground, and then both get shoved aside by the sound of car horns blaring impatiently at the same time.
But as you roll up the window you are ushered into the comfort of your favorite song. A few harmony structures have proven so pleasing to the ear that they appear in nearly every popular piece of music. Two-part harmonies are the foundation and perhaps the most personal. The simplicity and intimacy of two voices blending runs through music all over the world, by people of every race, creed and color. We all know the strength two voices can represent.
Harmonies are named for the distance between two notes, called an interval. For instance, the difference between an A note and a C note would be called a third (a minor third to be exact, but exact is not necessary here). The distance between an A note and E note is a fifth.
When we think of harmonies of thirds we can look to Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” as a fine example of some very close, tight harmonies many times using thirds to create the haunting sound on that song. Duplicating the harmonies on that song takes skill and work.
The next step in harmonies usually reaches up to the fifth and we add another singer. But before that we must add a footnote for the band Alice In Chains. Unlike many bands, especially in harder edged rock music, they used the interval of a fifth with only two singers. The result was haunting, unique and something many still consider to be among the best of the era. Harmonies can be either consonant, meaning they sound pleasant to us, or dissonant, meaning they’re harsh or a bit jarring. Alice In Chains managed to do both simultaneously.
Once we add another singer, we enter the realm of three-part harmony. Think Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Bee Gees, the Beatles and Fleetwood Mac. Part of the glory of three-part harmony is its ability to make a full chord with words. With that comes a unique tool to power both the music and the lyrics.
The addition of a fourth voice creates even more interesting chords and adds the ability to double up a note, but in a higher octave. A low C to a high C, for instance. This can make the chord wider and create space for even more voices to find a place.
More often than not, all this harmony is greatly dependent on the melody. The melody note could be considered the one, or root, note of the chord we create with our voices. While the melody is there to guide you through the song, harmony lets you know you’re not alone.
