Divide and Conquer: Part 5 – The Alphabet of Music
by Daniel Nistico
"One doesn't believe his own eyes and ears, that a single person is enabled to magically produce such full-voiced settings; the ouverture sounds as if a whole orchestra of guitars was playing, the melody is distinct and clear, and none of the accompaniment is missing. Did he already develop unbelievable virtuosity in the concert, so were his variations the 'non plus altra' of what is possible, the highest triumph of technical ability. Even as a singer 'alla camera' he showed taste and the inborn, lovely presentation found in his fatherland, plus, the rich and (incredibly) shining accompaniment provided doubled interest." --- Review of Luigi Legnani, 1822
Sing and Play
The guitar has long been an instrument of accompaniment. There is much evidence from the 19th century that suggests guitarists were frequently accompanying singers. As shown in the quote above, the singers could have been the guitarists themselves.
Have you ever tried singing a melody and accompanying yourself with a chord progression? This seems like something only a modern-day singer songwriter would do, right? I have tried this myself and find it to be one of the most beneficial practice methods of all, especially when playing 19th century music such as Sor, Regondi, Legnani, etc.
To do this, you’ll need to learn the skill of condensing your pieces into simple chord progressions.
My new harmony book can help you do this, as from that you can learn all the basic major and minor chords and their inversions. I’ve attached a sample of the book for you again. The book has been updated with more detailed fingerings and information.
I’ll now go into some detail and use a musical example to illustrate how to do condense your pieces into basic harmonies.
I’m going to use Bach’s famous C Major Prelude from the Well-Tempered Clavier:
by Daniel Nistico
"One doesn't believe his own eyes and ears, that a single person is enabled to magically produce such full-voiced settings; the ouverture sounds as if a whole orchestra of guitars was playing, the melody is distinct and clear, and none of the accompaniment is missing. Did he already develop unbelievable virtuosity in the concert, so were his variations the 'non plus altra' of what is possible, the highest triumph of technical ability. Even as a singer 'alla camera' he showed taste and the inborn, lovely presentation found in his fatherland, plus, the rich and (incredibly) shining accompaniment provided doubled interest." --- Review of Luigi Legnani, 1822
Sing and Play
The guitar has long been an instrument of accompaniment. There is much evidence from the 19th century that suggests guitarists were frequently accompanying singers. As shown in the quote above, the singers could have been the guitarists themselves.
Have you ever tried singing a melody and accompanying yourself with a chord progression? This seems like something only a modern-day singer songwriter would do, right? I have tried this myself and find it to be one of the most beneficial practice methods of all, especially when playing 19th century music such as Sor, Regondi, Legnani, etc.
To do this, you’ll need to learn the skill of condensing your pieces into simple chord progressions.
My new harmony book can help you do this, as from that you can learn all the basic major and minor chords and their inversions. I’ve attached a sample of the book for you again. The book has been updated with more detailed fingerings and information.
I’ll now go into some detail and use a musical example to illustrate how to do condense your pieces into basic harmonies.
I’m going to use Bach’s famous C Major Prelude from the Well-Tempered Clavier:
Chunking
This kind of arpeggiated texture is very common in guitar music. Even when basic harmonies are arpeggiated, it can sometimes overwhelm our brain to see so many notes. However, if we can learn to chunk these constituent notes into their whole, then this kind of texture won’t be so intimidating to us.
The first thing we must realize is that harmony is almost never presented in completely plain fashion.
There is almost always some ‘spice’ added, whether it be a dissonance or a sustained bass note, etc.
In the example above, there is both a sustained bass pedal C in measure 2 and a dissonant 7th F in measure 3.
Remember, we must think about our passage before we attempt to play it!
So once that has been figured out, we can then work out what the underlying harmonies are for each measure.
This kind of arpeggiated texture is very common in guitar music. Even when basic harmonies are arpeggiated, it can sometimes overwhelm our brain to see so many notes. However, if we can learn to chunk these constituent notes into their whole, then this kind of texture won’t be so intimidating to us.
The first thing we must realize is that harmony is almost never presented in completely plain fashion.
There is almost always some ‘spice’ added, whether it be a dissonance or a sustained bass note, etc.
In the example above, there is both a sustained bass pedal C in measure 2 and a dissonant 7th F in measure 3.
Remember, we must think about our passage before we attempt to play it!
So once that has been figured out, we can then work out what the underlying harmonies are for each measure.
If you start chunking, you will notice that there is only one harmony per measure. The rate at which the harmony changes is called the harmonic rhythm. This usually moves at a regular pace, however good composers will add interest, variety and subtle shifts to the harmonic rhythm.
Below is a chart showing the basic harmony for each measure. All I’ve done is stacked the arpeggiated notes into a chord. Each harmony is then condensed into a triad based on the exercises found in my harmony book.
Find the triads that correspond exactly from the prelude to the exercises (I’ve circled them below). I’m not providing the fingerings for the Bach example, because you get them from the exercises found in the harmony book, although you might have to alter them a little bit in context.
Below is a chart showing the basic harmony for each measure. All I’ve done is stacked the arpeggiated notes into a chord. Each harmony is then condensed into a triad based on the exercises found in my harmony book.
Find the triads that correspond exactly from the prelude to the exercises (I’ve circled them below). I’m not providing the fingerings for the Bach example, because you get them from the exercises found in the harmony book, although you might have to alter them a little bit in context.
Now, remember that each harmony can evoke its own character or mood. That means that the character and colour can change from measure to measure!
- Measure 1 with its C major harmony could be played “with a pure, certain and decisive manner, full of innocence, earnestness, deepest religious feeling.”
- Measure 2 with its D minor could be played with “a subdued feeling of melancholy…”
- Measure 3 with its G major harmony could be played with “sincerity of faith, quiet love, calm meditation, simple grace, pastoral life and a certain humour and brightness.”
- Measure 4 is the same as measure 1.
I am of course quoting from my book Fundamental Harmony - this is a practical benefit of having the quotes placed with each key.
You can apply these characters and moods to the harmonies found in the pieces you’re working on.
This frequent changing of mood is actually more in line with early music practice, whereas modern practice would be to play all four measures with one colour and character.
Learn Your Alphabet
Learning the triads is like learning the alphabet of each key. Once they’re internalized, you will very quickly be able to see these triads everywhere in pieces. Thus you will be able to rapidly analyse the piece to understand every single harmony.
I’ve only covered one example of four measures of music - remember to practice in small units, analyse and then make it sparkle!
I could keep doing this process for the rest of the piece.
Play and Sing
If you didn’t know already, this prelude was used as the accompaniment for the beautiful Ave Maria melody. The melody was composed by 19th century French composer Charles Gounod. Try singing or humming the melody and playing the condensed triads underneath. Next, try singing or humming and playing the prelude underneath.
This can be a very valuable, challenging and fun exercise. It can help your phrasing and shaping enormously.
A worksheet with the examples all together is available below.
Please leave a comment and let me know what you think! I hope you start singing and playing soon.
- Measure 1 with its C major harmony could be played “with a pure, certain and decisive manner, full of innocence, earnestness, deepest religious feeling.”
- Measure 2 with its D minor could be played with “a subdued feeling of melancholy…”
- Measure 3 with its G major harmony could be played with “sincerity of faith, quiet love, calm meditation, simple grace, pastoral life and a certain humour and brightness.”
- Measure 4 is the same as measure 1.
I am of course quoting from my book Fundamental Harmony - this is a practical benefit of having the quotes placed with each key.
You can apply these characters and moods to the harmonies found in the pieces you’re working on.
This frequent changing of mood is actually more in line with early music practice, whereas modern practice would be to play all four measures with one colour and character.
Learn Your Alphabet
Learning the triads is like learning the alphabet of each key. Once they’re internalized, you will very quickly be able to see these triads everywhere in pieces. Thus you will be able to rapidly analyse the piece to understand every single harmony.
I’ve only covered one example of four measures of music - remember to practice in small units, analyse and then make it sparkle!
I could keep doing this process for the rest of the piece.
Play and Sing
If you didn’t know already, this prelude was used as the accompaniment for the beautiful Ave Maria melody. The melody was composed by 19th century French composer Charles Gounod. Try singing or humming the melody and playing the condensed triads underneath. Next, try singing or humming and playing the prelude underneath.
This can be a very valuable, challenging and fun exercise. It can help your phrasing and shaping enormously.
A worksheet with the examples all together is available below.
Please leave a comment and let me know what you think! I hope you start singing and playing soon.
| Bach Prelude Harmony Worksheet.pdf |