A combination of sounds made by two or more different sounds at the same time according to certain rules. It includes: ① Chord, which is the basic material of harmony, is composed of three or more different sounds by three-dimensional superposition or other methods at the same time, and is the longitudinal structure of harmony. (2) harmonic progression refers to the successive connection of chords and the lateral movement of harmony. By the way. Harmony has obvious strong, light, thick and thin color effects; It also has the functions of forming clauses, dividing paragraphs and ending music.
Since17th century, due to the gradual development of melody music, the role of harmony has become more and more important. It plays three roles in music: ① the combination of voices. On the basis of unified harmony, all the voices are combined with each other to form a harmonious whole. ② The structure and function of music. Harmonic progression, group gathering and tonal layout play an important role in the composition of music forms. ③ The expressive function of content. Through the color and texture of harmony, the musical image is shaped and the musical content is expressed. The treatment of harmony is an important writing skill in music creation, and it is also the basis of other composing techniques such as counterpoint, orchestration and form. Sometimes, tunes also come from harmony.
In tonal music, harmony has both functional and semitone meanings. The function of harmony refers to the stable or unstable function of each chord in tonality, their movement and tendency characteristics, and their logical relationship. The function of harmony is closely related to tonality. Without tonality or tonality, harmony loses its functional meaning. The color of harmony refers to various chord structures, harmony positions, texture writing and harmonic progression's sound effects. Harmony color is the main factor of harmony expression, which is of great significance in both tonal and atonal music.
The historical development of harmony The formation and development of harmony in western music has a history of more than 1000 years, which can be summarized into the following six stages:
10 ~16th century, European polyphonic music developed from the early organon to the perfect stage of polyphonic writing. When the parts of polyphonic music are combined with each other mainly in harmony intervals, harmony intervals, chords and harmonic progression are formed. At that time, it was based on various seven-tone ancient modes, so later generations called the harmony in 15 and16th century polyphonic music as medieval mode harmony or church mode harmony. Its characteristics are as follows: ① Based on the tonality of six different modes (i.e. tonic) (the seventh Locklear mode is rarely used).
The interval relationship of each mode scale is different, and each mode has its own characteristic interval, which is different. (2) The chord structure is based on the harmony interval, and there are only major chords and minor chords in the original position, and the first inversion and the first inversion of the triad are subtracted. Other dissonance intervals must be solved by prescribed methods. ③ Triple groups at all levels can be connected with each other. In the connection of chords, the interval relationship between various root sounds is often used (except adding four degrees). In the process of music, it is not required to take the main chord as the center, but it should be closed at the end of the music. Tone sandhi, also known as "false tone", has been applied since about14th century. It is stipulated that the anti-sound level of six degrees should be six degrees higher when entering the octave, and three degrees lower when entering the same degree. Therefore, it is necessary to use tone sandhi to form a similar leading tone to enter the voice of the tonic. In addition, in order to avoid reducing five degrees and increasing four degrees, it is necessary to change the tone. This creates conditions for various modes to gradually evolve into large systems and small systems.
Because the harmonic series similar to Ⅳ-Ⅴ-I, Ⅴ-I or Ⅴ-I are formed at different pauses at the end of each phrase, it forms the bud of tone sandhi in the future.
/kloc-in the 0/7th century, with the formation of single melody music and the appearance of early baroque opera, the method of adding chord accompaniment to single-part singing was adopted. The use of digital bass to express the harmony of the accompaniment part is improvised by the keyboard player. On the basis of longitudinal interval combination, the function of harmony is strengthened, and the bass line with average rhythm is formed. The development of instrumental music and chord texture is of great significance to the gradual formation of tonic music. Due to the need of drama content, people began to pay attention to the expression of harmony, especially dissonance chords (for example, C. Monteverdi and J. Perry used seven chords to express lamentation and misfortune in opera). The application of seven chords has become an important condition for establishing major and minor tones. By the end of17th century, although there was still the influence of the medieval model, the primary and secondary systems had been established. Major and minor become the mode thinking basis of melody and harmony; The mode color contrast between them has become an important performance factor in music.
/kloc-in the first half of the 0/8th century, in the late Baroque period, instrumental music was greatly developed, and free polyphony music based on large and small harmony systems was the main texture form. Continue to apply digital bass as a notation method for the harmony part of keyboard instruments. As an element of musical form, harmony plays an important role in the musical structure of this period, including fugue, ancient two-part musical form, early sonata form and so on. , and formed the law of tonal layout: major music first turned to major, and then turned to other closely related tunes; Music in minor should be transferred to minor or parallel major first, and then to other related keys. Pay attention to the contrast between tonality function and color in modulation layout. Major triad is often used as the main chord at the end of minor music. This method was widely used from the second half of16th century until the middle of18th century. Homophonic tone sandhi is a musical contrast method used in this period. The application of average rhythm keyboard instrument expands the application range of harmony modulation in music. J.S. Bach's Collection of Piano Music with Average Rhythm is a typical work of this kind of music, which plays an extremely important role in the development of music art in later generations. During this period, in addition to natural chords at all levels, tone sandhi chords such as subordinate chords, minus seventh chords and Napoli sixth chords were widely used. The application of various harmony textures in instrumental music, such as chord mode and decomposition mode, further developed the main melody music style and gradually transitioned to the main melody music system in the second half of the18th century. During this period, many writers attached importance to using different harmony materials to express different music contents and play the role of harmony. For example, in Bach's works, simple harmony is used to express joy, praise, hope and equality. It expresses fantasy, drama and suffering, sadness and mourning with semitone harmony and disharmony. In The Passion of Matthew, Bach described the scene of "the earth shook, the rocks cracked, and the dead rose from the grave ..." with the help of semitone rising, inflection and dissonance of bass.
Although the harmony in this period was based on the system of major and minor, the medieval model was still applied in some vocal music and instrumental music based on chorus.
/kloc-in the second half of the 0/8th century, theme music became the main system of classical music genre. The simplicity of the ideological content and structural form pursued at that time was also manifested in the simplicity of harmony techniques. The system of major and minor became the basis of harmony, and the mode of the Middle Ages lost its influence. The tonal meaning of harmony is more clear and concentrated, emphasizing the three main chords: subject, subordinate and subordinate. Digital bass is no longer used in creation, and bass has also got rid of the shackles of flowing water. Because the structure is square, there is no complicated voice and rhythm in polyphonic music, and the rhythm of harmony is regular and rhythmic, with symmetrical and balanced harmonic progression as the main body. Out-of-tune, transposition mode, minus seventh chord, plus sixth chord, homophonic major and minor opposition are all widely used. First, the harmony mode is applied, and major triad's hindrance is applied. With the application of semitone and overtone, decorative semitone has developed and become a colorful technique.
In the form of melody music, especially in large-scale music forms, such as sonata form, the structural function of harmony is fully exerted and becomes one of the elements of melody music structure.
In the19th century and the early19th century in The Romantic Period, the harmony techniques were basically the same as those in the late last century. Since then, due to the expansion of theme and content, the needs of emotional expression, psychological description, scenery description and plot expression in music works have prompted composers to continuously develop new harmony vocabulary and enrich the expressive force of harmony. This is mainly manifested in two aspects: on the one hand, the development of tone sandhi system harmony and other complex harmony techniques, such as a large number of semitones, long-distance separation and tone sandhi, wandering and fuzzy tonality, continuous subordinate function group chords, various long-distance tone sandhi chords, and highly overlapping chords (ninth chord, eleventh chord, thirteenth chord, etc. ), the main chord is hidden, avoiding cohesion, and the big and small sounds are mixed with the same main theme. The functionality of harmony is gradually weakened and blurred, and the color is highlighted and emphasized. Harmony in Wagner's later musicals can be said to be the representative of this aspect. On the other hand, due to the rise of national music school and the adoption of ancient religious themes, the natural sound system and harmony have been restored and expanded. For example, due to the influence of folk music, the range of modes in the works has expanded. In addition to natural major and minor modes, there are other medieval modes and special modes, such as Fregia and Lydia modes in Chopin's works, Gypsy modes in Liszt's works and various natural modes in Russian composers' works. In terms of harmony, the subordinate group chords are emphasized, and sometimes a paragraph only consists of subordinate group chords and main chords. The minor triad in major is also attached great importance, adding soft colors to make harmony have the style characteristics of medieval modes. It is also common for harmonic progression to change the case, hinder the case and the three-level root relationship, and it is also often encountered in the works of Liszt, Wagner, Russian composer and E. Grieg. In terms of chord composition, there are dominant chords and dominant chords with sixth tones, and there are highly overlapping chords with natural ranges. In terms of harmony, there are also new ways to deal with it, such as using inverted dominant chords at the end; Replace ⅴ-level orthobeam with Ⅲ-level orthobeam; Class ⅵ or class II replaces class ⅵ to change beams, etc. Sometimes the final ending is not on the main chord. During this period, some special techniques were creative and became pioneers of modern harmony, such as pentatonic harmony (as in ап Borodin's works); Fifth overlapping chords (as in Liszt's works); Compound harmony (as in Wagner's works); Chromatic harmony (as in на rimsky-Kosakov's works), etc.
In the 20th century, on the basis of the development of large and small system harmony to the limit in the late19th century, many composers explored new creative techniques or reverted to the ancient music style, breaking the traditional harmony norms in the past 200 years. The harmony techniques in the 20th century can be summarized as: the complexity of harmony thinking, the diversification of chord structure, the liberalization of harmony series and the expansion of tonality concept. First of all, it breaks through the traditional harmony materials and creates new harmony effects, such as the parallel application of three-degree overlapping chords; Independent use of 46 chords and dissonance chords; Direct continuity of long-distance chords without functional connection; Harmonic progression and compound chords with continuous second, third or third degrees.
In terms of breaking the long-term influence of major and minor modes, various medieval modes, pentatonic modes, special modes of some ethnic groups, overtone scales (including major modes rising by four degrees and falling by seven degrees at the same time), diatonic scales, twelve-tone scales and various other special modes and scales are widely used. These new modal scales provide different foundations for dealing with the harmony of major and minor.
In the aspect of chord structure, we strive to break the traditional principle of triple superposition and pursue the disharmony and rough harmony effect that was thought in the past. For example, the advanced third-degree overlapping chord based on chromatic scale, the fourth-degree overlapping method, the second-degree dense sound group, various additional sounds and any possible combination make the sound of harmony sharp, tense and complicated vertically.
In addition, there is a harmony processing method, which completely combines the sounds of natural sound system, which is called "pan-natural sound system".
In the music works of 19 century, the difference between big and small modes tends to disappear. Moreover, due to the development of semitone harmony, the scope of tonality has expanded and changed rapidly, weakening and blurring the functional significance of tonality and harmony. In the 20th century, on this basis, the traditional concept was further broken, and the following new tonality processing methods were produced: ① Pan tonality, which still maintains the role of tonality, but breaks the boundaries of traditional tonality, is not based on triads and natural scales, and has no functional harmony series, but expresses or implies the meaning of tonality center (tonic or tonic chord) through some new methods. Sometimes, due to the constant change of the tuning center, there is a lack of fixed and clear tuning sensation. (2) Polytonality, that is, the simultaneous combination of two or more different tonalities, is a new tonality processing method popular in the early 20th century. Each tonality level is mostly the traditional tonality of natural sound system, but when different tonality is superimposed and combined, it will produce disharmony, contradiction and sometimes even sharp harmony effect. (3) atonality, which emphasizes that every sound has the same meaning on the basis of chromatic scale, and avoids and denies the control of the center tone. This treatment ruled out tonality, and key signature lost its meaning and stopped using it. The principle of chord combination, the function of root sound and the internal relationship between chords have all been cancelled. The structure of music is no longer distinguished by harmony.
The harmony expression in China's music works was used in China's professional music creation. The application of harmony began at the beginning of the 20th century, initially adopting the European methods of major and minor harmony. Because the melody is mostly pentatonic, how to adapt harmony to the melody style has become a subject that China composers have been exploring in practice. In the early days, most of the harmonies were based on major and minor harmonies, and methods such as strengthening the role of minor chords, combining major triad with sixth tones, and paying attention to the pentatonic scale of the parts (especially the two external parts) were adopted. In the 1920s, Zhao Yuanren paid attention to trying Chinese harmony in his song accompaniment.
In the mid-1930s, due to the influence of national traditional music and folk music, the national style of music got further attention, and there were more explorations and experiments on harmony. For example, some harmony methods of European national music school and impressionism (such as Debussy) were used for reference, the application of natural mode harmony was increased, and the method of adding or changing sounds was adopted on the basis of triad. Some works break the harmony norms of major and minor, and adopt a five-tone harmony structure (such as the introduction of Lao Zhicheng's The Joy of the Shepherd Boy) or polyphony (such as He Lvting's The Shepherd Boy Piccolo).
In the mid-1940s, music creation developed further than in the earlier period, and works based on folk songs or folk songs' melodies gradually increased. In harmony, we attach importance to the use of modal harmony methods, and try some chord structures suitable for pentatonic scales, such as four or five chords and alternative chords. Beginning to absorb and use some modern harmony methods, the harmony of impressionist writers attracted more composers' attention and reference. Hendry's composition theory was also introduced to China. Tan Xiaolin combined this theory, technique and national style in his creation, and created a new harmony processing method.
At that time, there were also attempts to combine atonal writing techniques with China folk songs, but it was not universal. After the founding of New China, music creation has made great progress, and the national style of harmony has attracted more attention. However, due to the emphasis on functional harmony theory, it mainly belongs to three-dimensional structure and functional mode harmony method in harmony processing. At the same time, on the basis of maintaining tonality and mode, there are many explorations and attempts, such as pentatonic harmony structure, complex harmony combination, compound harmony, quartic harmony, mode alternation harmony, parallel progression and so on. In recent years, many composers have been exploring the combination of modern harmony techniques and national styles, and achieved many gratifying results. In short, from the practice of music creation in China, three-dimensional harmony, pentatonic harmony and modern complex harmony can all be combined with pentatonic national sound to play their role in developing the national style of music creation.