How Harmony In Music Works

An epitome of the meaning of the word 'harmony' will be 'accord'. We hear it all the time; a harmonious existence, a harmonious life, or a harmonious meeting. However, the musical aspect of harmony has a somewhat different connotation, although the essence is perhaps the same.

In music, harmony is the 'mixture of various notes of varied musical pitch to create a wonderful arrangement of sounds'. Everyone has heard it, no doubt; and many have even pondered over how is it done. I first heard a harmony in a song by Alisha Chinai. It was a Hindi song; marvellously effecting the music as a whole. Later on, I heard it in many other songs, and soon learnt how to make it as well. It's easy, while some knowledge of music theory is required.

The first thing to know about is a 'scale'. A scale is a series of notes usually spamming an octave. There are different kind of scales; where importance is concerned, major scale, minor scale and the pentatonic scale take the lead. Of course, other scales are equally important, but these will give a basic idea about harmony.

                  A C Major Scale


To make a harmony, take the C major scale as an example. The notes on the scale are: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C.  Now suppose that one person is singing/playing the note C. (It is advisable to have a real/virtual musical instrument while learning this to incorporate harmony in singing). The person  harmonising will, generally, sing/play the note E. You can try it with your instrument. This is called the 'third harmony' (since E is the third note on the C Major Scale) which is the most common one. However, it's not restricted; you can try other notes as well.

Try with a F instead of an E. That will give you the fourth harmony. Likewise, G will give the fifth harmony, A the sixth harmony and B the seventh harmony. And on a minor scale (C minor scale has notes C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C), for the third harmony, you'll have to go to the note Eb instead of an E. That is why it is important to know, first, the theory of the scales; second, the applicability in the song.

Choirs use different notes synchronously to create a mixture of harmonies. They have their separate group for bass, soprano, alto and tenor. Each group sings a different note; say, if bass is singing C, soprano will sing E, alto G and tenor an octave C. Of course, it is not exact; they can go for any note they want. The combination depends, but the theory is the same. In songs, however, mostly two harmonies are used. I think that much is enough to give a sufficient depth to the song.

Now we see how to make harmonies in a song. Here, we first identify the note from which the song starts (or the starting note from where you want to create the harmony). Say, it is, once again, C. Then, let's say, the note moves to D. The distance between C and D, on a C major scale, is one. So, if suppose we are doing the third harmony, the starting note will be E  Since D is a second note and comes immediately after C, the note corresponding D should also be the note immediately succeeding E, i.e. F. So if the song is going in a combination of C,D,C,D; the harmony will go in E,F,E,F. Or if you want the fourth harmony, it will go in F,G,F,G.

Let's see how it will work in this combination on a C Major scale:
C,D,F,A,B,C.
We take the third harmony, the most common one. It starts with F, and goes to G, as we saw above. Now, the third note is F, which is at a distance (or a quantitative interval) of four. So, the harmonic note corresponding F will be the fourth note from E, that is, A. Similarly, the next note is A, at a distance of six notes from C. So the harmony will be the sixth quantitative interval of E on the C Major scale, that is, C (an octave C is generally used, but is not necessary). The whole combination would look something like this:
E,F,A,C,D,E.

If you get the concepts right, it isn't that difficult. And the effect that the harmony gives to the overall music is totally magical. So, just get your instrument (real or virtual) and get on with it!

Why Musicians Ponder

Pondering is an act of sitting in silence and thinking of something deeply. A beautiful quote with an air of depth often makes us think how much the author had pondered over it. Everyone ponders at something at some moment in their lives, but often we see musicians, writers and artists doing the act along with the companionship of silence and solitude.

Of course, it seems natural for musicians to ponder; after all, they have to write or make something that touches their hearts, hoping it would touch the hearts of others as well. But it's not always what it seems. The simple act of just thinking about something awakens certain things, like memories or dreams. The very act of hitting a note or scratching on a piece of paper can denote the maker's feeling, intention, or sometimes even rationale.

Pondering asks for silence, for it means 'hearing' yourself. It's, certainly not impossible, but not very plausible to think over something in a noisy environment. That is why we don't see the 'ponderers' often - they're too busy finding answers within themselves.

Musicians particularly Ponder over a sad song, I've seen. There is a certain melancholy associated with silence, a congenial sadness. Perhaps it's because it is the sadness that teaches us where to go, and the teaching comes when we think over it. Songs often reflect what the musician was taught by her sadness, and people feel the lesson as they listen to it.

That's why some songs, particularly sad songs, are so soothing that we completely delve into it, and then cannot express what we feel. We feel the pain, but there is a beauty in that feeling. I've personally been a very big fan of Steven Wilson, because he apparently shares this view and makes beautiful sad music. There is a pleasure in the pain, an ecstasy in the way the maker has presented his melancholy that can't really be expressed.

The answer to 'Why Musicians Ponder' can be subjectively concluded that, it is because they want to integrate themselves in the process of learning. Everyone has their own way of learning things, and making music is one of them. And music is made by thinking over things and attaching anything you come up with inside to the 'outsides' of it.

A sincere thanks to all those musicians who have pondered enough to make beautiful songs where the sadness in it lead a lot of us to bliss, making us realise that sadness isn't really an opposite of happiness. Perhaps apathy is.