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Composition Club A 6-month Course to give you all the tools you could
ever need to create truly original music, harmony, and other arrangements for the great highland bagpipe.
Month 3: Writing Harmonies
Harmonies are a natural extension of music theory and tune writing!
Intro: A Natural Extension.
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Defining “Harmonies” ¡ “Harmony” can be defined super-simply as:
¡ The use of simultaneous pitches.
¡ When two or more notes sound at the same time during a bagpipe melody, we call these “harmonies”!
If you think about it… ¡ If you think about it, we sort of have harmony
happening all the time in bagpipe music,
¡ Due to the three drones that are always playing underneath all of our melodies.
¡ But, the harmony we’re going to study in this month of the composition club involves two or more pipers, playing different notes on top of bagpipe melodies.
Bad Harmonies ¡ There is a LOT of bad bagpipe harmony out
there!
¡ As we already know (as music theory gurus-to-be), harmonies aren’t as simple as just picking some notes, “two above”, or “two below” the melody line.
¡ Let’s look at some awful (yet awfully common) examples of the 2-Up-2-Down abomination!
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Good Harmonies ¡ As you undoubtedly already know and sense –
harmonies have to follow the somewhat universal rules of theory:
¡ Chords and Chord Progressions (We learned about these in Month 1).
¡ Also, basic tune writing fundamentals and instincts will need to be applied (Month 2).
We have the foundation. ¡ That’s right! We have the two key skill-sets already
built up from months 1 and 2 of the composition club.
¡ We understand chord progressions, and how to craft bagpipe melodies.
It’s really as simple as… ¡ Writing good bagpipe harmony can really be
summed up as simply as:
¡ Selecting other members of the current chord to harmonize with the main melody line.
¡ Do this thoughtfully and with “craft,” and you’ll have some amazing bagpipe harmonies on your hands.
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Let’s dive in. ¡ Let’s start with the simplest applications of this
idea in the next video or two.
¡ Then, we’ll look at some ways to fundamentally and creatively improve your harmony writing in later videos!
Part 1: “Static” Chord-Note
Writing
Sounds Scary, But Isn’t. ¡ “Static Chord Note” harmony writing isn’t as
scary as it sounds.
¡ Basically, in this most basic form of harmony writing, we’re just going to play a long, sustained note over top of a melody!
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Long Notes that Follow the Progression ¡ We need to make sure the static notes we pick
belong to the chord we’re currently playing.
¡ Let’s listen to some examples:
Creating Some Static Note Harmonies ¡ Let’s head over to Finale and explore some
static-note harmonies.
¡ For simplicity sake, we’ll just use the main melody notes (and leave out gracenotes and embellishments).
Summarizing: Isn’t that Surprisingly Simple? ¡ Isn’t that surprisingly easy in concept?
¡ You should explore as much of this as you can, with tunes that you like!
¡ What sort of cool harmonies can you come up with?
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Testing Your Harmonies ¡ One important note is that you’ll need a good way
to test out your harmonies to see how they sound.
¡ I often use Finale (with no gracenotes/embellishments) or other multi-layer-friendly software to help me hear my harmonies.
¡ You can use a multi-track recording software (see bonus videos).
¡ Other ideas: Play with a friend, use an iPhone, etc.
Assignments: ¡ Can you write suspended-note harmonies to the
following snippets?
¡ Bring them to an Open Dojo Session, and we’ll give you feedback on how they sound!
2nd Part, Steamboat
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Any of Your Favorite Tunes ¡ Lastly, you can experiment with suspended-note-
harmonies for any of your favorite tunes.
¡ Try a bunch, and see what you come up with!
Part 2: Simple Counterpoint Harmony ¡ While technically “counterpoint” can include
suspended-note technique from Part 1, for the purposes of Part 2:
¡ Counterpoint will refer to: Writing harmony-lines that (generally) mirror the rhythm of the primary line.
Simple! ¡ So, this is simple!
¡ Simply take a tune, and select different members of the chord.
¡ Listening Examples:
¡ Example(s) in Finale:
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When You Come to a Non-Chord Tone… ¡ You have a couple of options:
¡ You can write your own non-chord tone to mimic the primary line.
¡ You can write a (**distant**) chord-tone over top of the primary line’s non-chord tone.
Playability ¡ We’ll talk about this in more depth later, BUT:
¡ Make sure your harmony line is comfortable to play!
¡ Select super-simple articulations so as not to interfere with the primary melody.
Let’s just do it! ¡ Let’s dive in and just write a bunch of simple
counterpoint.
¡ Here are a few assignments you can bring to Open-sessions for critique:
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Any of Your Favorite Tunes ¡ Lastly, you can experiment with simple
counterpoint for any of your favorite tunes.
¡ Try a bunch, and see what you come up with!
Part 3: Advanced Counterpoint
Techniques
Making Things More Interesting ¡ Frankly, a tasteful combination of suspended chord
notes and simple counterpoint is enough to write some very nice harmonies.
¡ Remember, it’s generally rare to find harmonies that only use one trick or the other.
¡ Usually, it’s a combination of suspended notes and counterpoint that does that trick.
¡ Let’s look at another key consideration in this video.
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Similar vs. Contrary Motion ¡ When it comes to selecting the harmony notes
for a passage, consider note shapes.
¡ What shape do the notes of a passage take?
¡ A few examples
Similar Motion: ¡ Composers of counterpoint long ago discovered
that mimicking note shape can lead to more engaging harmonies.
¡ This is called “Similar” or “Parallel” Motion.
Contrary Motion ¡ Also, on the flip side, inverting the primary line’s
note-shape can produce equally spellbinding results.
¡ This is called “Contrary” Motion.
¡ Considering mimicking or inverting the main line’s note-shapes is a great harmony writing technique.
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Finale Example ¡ Let’s look at both techniques in action:
Keeping Things Smooth ¡ When writing similar/contrary motion, or any
other counter point, smoothness should be your objective for the harmony player.
¡ It should feel natural to play, and
¡ If the harmony part were to be played on its own, it should sound as close to its own tune as possible.
Almost a Separate Tune ¡ You can (and should) use non-chord tones in your
harmony writing to smooth things out.
¡ Think about when you wrote tunes on their own – what did you do to make them craft-ful and smooth?
¡ Apply these same sensitivities to your harmony writing.
¡ (Without going crazy… i.e. – don’t be too obsessed with making it a tune – this is a harmony line after all!)
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Some Examples ¡ Let’s look at some examples of harmony and
evaluate them in terms of their note-shapes and playability.
Part 4: Dissonance, Suspensions,
“Forced” Chords
Reviewing The End Goal ¡ We need to always keep in mind the “golden
rule” of harmony writing:
¡ We always* need to resolve to the Tonic at the end of every part and/or tune.
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But… ¡ But, what we do on the way to our resolution is
up to us!
¡ While we have harmony writing “rules” we have been learning to follow…
¡ All of these rules can be broken, and sometimes to great effect.
Three Awesome Ways to Break the Rules ¡ Let’s spend time in this video looking at:
¡ Dissonance (Purposefully using un-tonal harmony notes)
¡ Suspensions (Waiting on a dissonant harmony, and then resolving to the desired chord)
¡ “Forced” Chords (Creating a Chord Progression that isn’t clearly evident in the melody)
Dissonance ¡ So, obviously we want to make beautiful tonal
harmonies all the time.
¡ But, just like life, there are instances where ugliness actually paves the way to the appreciation of beauty.
¡ In harmony writing, something that sounds dissonant, unsettling, or downright ugly can lead the listener into a simple chord that sounds all the more beautiful.
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Examples: ¡ Let’s look at some general examples of
dissonance.
“Suspended” Notes in a Chord ¡ Suspended-note chords are a good example of
using dissonance to one’s advantage, and they have a very “classic” effect:
¡ In a chord, the third will be temporarily omitted, and (usually) the 4th or 2nd interval will be put in its place.
¡ (Usually the 2nd or the 4th carries over from the previous chord)
Suspended Chords Continued ¡ This creates a temporary dissonance – the two most
important notes of the chord (1st and 5th) are where they’re supposed to be.
¡ But, there’s still some unfinished business.
¡ Now, go from the suspended note down to the 3rd, and you have a classic dissonanceàresolution movement.
¡ Let’s see some examples.
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A Delicate Balance ¡ Dissonance and suspensions are fun, but –
¡ Remember that overdoing it will make the tune unpleasant!
¡ Work to achieve the perfect balance between consonance (following the harmonic rules) and dissonance (bending those rules).
Part 5: Rhythmic Variation in the
Harmony Line
A Palette of Rhythmic Options ¡ So, we now know about static chord-notes and
about tracing the basic rhythm of the primary line.
¡ In this Video, let’s look at playing around with rhythm as a way to enhance our harmony writing.
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It’s Simple! ¡ So, basically what we’re talking about here is not
writing the same rhythm in the harmony as the primary line is playing.
¡ It’s really that simple.
¡ Let’s play around with some possibilities, and listen to some examples.
Examples ¡ Examples of Rhythmic Variation in the Harmony
Line.
Part 6: Bagpipe Logistical
Concerns
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Bagpipe-Specific concerns. ¡ There are a few bagpipe-specific things to keep
in mind as we write harmonies.
¡ Being sensitive to the unique qualities of the instrument will allow us to create even more inpsired music and harmonies.
¡ Let’s get into what I think are the main bagpipe-specific qualities to be aware of as we compose.
Note Volumes ¡ The bagpipes are well known for having certain
notes that have (or seem to have) more/less volume than the others.
¡ High A is quiet relative to other notes on the scale.
¡ Low G is LOUD relative to other notes on the scale.
Using High A ¡ Tunes like the Clumsy Lover and Itchy Fingers
(when played on the full pipes) beautifully exploit the quiet High A to bring out cool poly rhythms.
¡ Can you also exploit this factor in some of your harmony writing and arrangements?
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Being Careful with Low G ¡ I generally avoid Low G in harmony writing unless
I am sure that it (and its arguably overbearing volume) is the right musical choice.
¡ Remember, High G is the same pitch, and will be quieter and usually equally as evocative.
¡ Some Examples
Playability ¡ I’ve suggested this quite a few times in this section
of the course.
¡ Are your harmonies playable, and erring on the side of simplicity?
¡ If not, go over them again.
¡ Harmonies will confuse the listener unless the player is truly able to “nail” them. Make them playable like a real tune.
Blowing Steadiness Issues ¡ Think about the average bagpiper and spots in
their music where they are likely to blow unsteadily.
¡ Long Notes. Especially D’s, High G’s, and Low Notes at the end of parts.
¡ High Hand notes are often prone to “surging”
¡ Etc.
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You Guessed It. ¡ Make sure to keep these issues in mind when
writing harmonies –
¡ Especially when you know they’ll be performed by less-than-expert pipe bands!
¡ Watch out for too many long held notes that might be poorly blown and ruin the effect.
Lastly - The Drones ¡ Some harmony writers worry about the ‘A’ droning
going on at all times.
¡ As you have undoubtedly discerned during this course, I don’t really count the drones when I compose.
¡ It’s just always going to be there… a “zen” undercurrent of all of our composing.
¡ (I.e. - Don’t worry about the theory of the drone in your composing either).
Conclusion: Using Your Whole
Arsenal
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A Foundation of Very Basic Theory ¡ I hope this month’s material has demonstrated
that, with even just our basic palette of music theory, writing awesome harmonies is not only possible… but kinda easy!
¡ An understanding of chord progressions is really all we need to be successful – at that point, you just plug in other members of the current chord in varying combinations to create your harmony.
Get to Work! ¡ At this point, your only real assignment is to go
out into the bagpipe tune world and create harmonies!
¡ Don’t get too sentimental – some harmonies will turn out great, and others will flop.
¡ You’ll start to feel what tunes will result in great harmonies and which ones won’t.
Next Month: 360-degree creations ¡ Next month, we’ll look at starting from the
absolute bottom, and bringing all the skills we’ve learned thus far together to create our masterwork!
¡ Work hard on honing your skills for the rest of this month, and we’ll see you in the next chapter!
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