Topmusicanswers
- What function does harmony play in Western music?
- What is Western tonal harmony?
- What makes nineteenth century music more dissonant and chromatic?
- What is the harmony of classical music?
What function does harmony play in Western music?
In a narrower sense, harmony refers to the extensively developed system of chords and the rules that allow or forbid relations between chords that characterizes Western music. Musical sound may be regarded as having both horizontal and vertical components.
What is Western tonal harmony?
They include the concepts of key, of functional harmony, and of modulation. ... A key is a group of related notes belonging to either a major or minor scale, plus the chords that are formed from those notes, and the hierarchy of relationships among those chords.
What makes nineteenth century music more dissonant and chromatic?
Harmonies in nineteenth-century music are more dissonant than ever. More chords add a fourth note to the triad, making them more dissonant and chromatic. These dissonances may be sustained for some time before resolving to a chord that is consonant. ... Composers were in effect “pushing the harmonic envelope.”
What is the harmony of classical music?
General characteristics of harmony and tonality in the Classical period. Tonality was diatonic - in a major or minor key. Diatonic chords - mainly the primary chords - were used, with occasional chromaticisms. ... The two main chords were the tonic and dominant chords - chords I and V - with some diminished seventh chords.
