Chords – Who, What, Where, How & So What?
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Interestingly, both the Secular and Sacred styles had many things in common.
Example: Gregorian chant - Deum verum |
Example: Palestrina - O Magnum Mysterium,1525 - Italian
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Example: Allegri - Miserere mei, Deus 1630
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At this time composers began to think of harmony as a ‘vertical’ phenomenon, to regard the sound of notes heard simultaneously as a definite entity. Although the basic style of composition was still primarily linear, more thought began to be put into the way those lines interacted, and sometimes clashed. This is when composers started to consider the concept of melody with accompanying harmony for the first time.
Also during this time, the tuning of instruments was different to today, which had the effect of limiting what could be done. Moving a melody from one key to another could sound terrible and there were fewer options for combinations of notes that worked, so songs tended to stay in one key. It took centuries of experimentation before a universal system for tuning instruments was developed. When I talked about this with my piano tuner, he said ”Oh Elizabeth, there has been many a war when the topic of equal temperament has been discussed!” Equal temperament, standardised in the early Baroque period, is a way of tuning instruments so they can sound good together in any key. It meant composers could modulate (change home keys) during a piece, thus opening the doors to a whole new range of possibilities, and importantly it made possible a chordal hierarchy which is still the norm today. More than ever before, composers started working with full consideration of keys and chords. The Flemish Josquin des Prez was the leading composer of the Renaissance (1300 - 1700), exploring multi-part, or contrapuntal writing, working with up to six parts instead of the traditional three. The increased number of voices led to further enrichment of the harmony. A typical Josquin device using harmony for expressive purposes was the suspension, a type of dissonant harmony that ‘resolved’ to a consonance. In a suspension one note of a chord is sustained while the other voices change to a new chord. This technique led to the Suspended, one of the chords taught early on in the Simply Music Accompaniment 1 Programme. Example: Josquin Des Prez Tu solus qui facis mirabilia |
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The Italian Claudio Monteverdi (1567- 1643) experimented with a heightened use of dissonance toward expressive ends. The major change at this time was in the development of vertical harmony. The bass line became the generating force upon which harmonies were built. It was often written out with figures below it to represent the harmonies to be built upon it. From this single line—plus figures, known variously as figured bass, basso continuo or thorough bass—the accompanying instrumentalists were expected to improvise a full harmonic underpinning for the melody of the topmost voice or voices. This is where the importance of chords was fully established.
The period known as the Baroque, from approx. 1600 – 1750, saw an explosion in all the arts of ideas, inventions, science, and musical instruments. Creativity flourished throughout Europe. In 1722 Jean-Philippe Rameau wrote Traité de l’harmonie, where the theory of chords moved to a whole new level. Rameau delved head first into the concept of Inversions – playing the notes of a chord in different orders. All of this prolific experimentation and theorizing set the stage for the Classical then the Romantic composers to fully explore the new concept of tonal harmony. When I studied theory at the Conservatorium of Music, our main focus was the analysis of J.S. Bach’s 4-part Chorales. These formed the basis on which “acceptable” harmony was composed. In this example, listen to the development from Gregorian Chant to Bach - a far more complex sound with Vocals, Orchestra, rhythm and, most of all, harmony. Example : J S Bach - St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244 - Part One |
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Example: J S Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier Book One: Prelude in C Major BWV 846, harpsichord
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This is by no means a comprehensive article…..but hopefully just enough for you to realise that the understanding of chords, and their relationship with each other is a vast study, and the Simply Music accompaniment program is a tremendous launching pad to start playing and understanding what makes chords tick!!
If you haven’t started the Accompaniment 1 program yet…..then get very excited because when you do …you are going to love it! It will definitely give you a greater depth of knowledge of chords and how they work. I have recently put together a program which helps you to really get to know many chord styles…..it’s called The Chord Drill. It seamlessly works along side the Accomp. 1 program and helps you to remember all your chords in every key! It has two parts: Part 1 sets out the chords in the Accomp. 1 in a way that helps you to remember the various chord shapes & qualities. Part 2 adds rhythmic variations and delves into a practical demonstration of all the chords in 1st & 2nd Inversions. Enjoy |