HARMONY AND MELODY

HARMONY :

In general, harmony refers to the combination of notes (or chords) played together and the relationship between a series of chords. But to give you a better understanding of harmony, let's first define melody. Melody refers to the tune of a song or piece of music. It is created by playing a series of notes one after another. Harmony accompanies and supports the melody. It is created by playing a group of notes (either simultaneously or as broken chords) behind the melody thus giving it musical texture. Harmony is one of the most interesting and complex issues in Western music. Harmony is one of the basic elements of music, but it is not as basic as some other elements, such as rhythm and melody etc.

MELODY:

The melody is the most important factor of form of a song. .Any series, sequence or succession of single tone or note, cleverly arranged to their harmonious agreement with each other. Melody normally moves by diatonic step ,(half step, whole step) and sometimes, by chromatic step or around these two (scales). It strives toward a goal, and ultimately completes its course. Melodic pitch normally resolves downward and or to its nearest stable neighbour and comes to a point of final rest on the tonic. Human voice, flute, horn and any other instruments that are capable of producing one tone at a time--produce melody. The major difference between Indian and Western music is, Classical Indian music concentrates only in melody and seldom in harmony. Western music concentrates in melody as well as harmony.

Back to Components of Music