What Music Means to Me
Veteran music educator and composer shares his thoughts on the intersection of music and living.
Saturday, Oct 27, 2007
Episode 7: Non-Harmonic Tones, Diversity, and Delayed Gratification
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Watson draws two important life lessons from an unlikely place - music theory. Much Western music has an underlying chordal - or harmonic - structure. But composers add much beauty to the surface of their music through the use of notes not in these skeletal chords. Hear what these Non-Chord Tones can teach us about life!
Posted by Dr. Scott Watson at 10:13 AM | 3 comments
3 Comments:
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It's interesting you compared Non-harmonic tones to diversity and delayed gratification in life. I never really looked at music beyond the musical aspect of it.
It is easy to hear non-harmonic tones and the artistic effects it has on music especially when compared to a straight version of the same song without the non-harmonic tones. It might be difficult to tell by looking at piece of music, but the non-harmonic tones do decorate the music chords in a beneficial way that it is more beautiful to listen to.
There is a piece called O nata Lux and the version used for District chorus is very much just the chords of the song with a few non-harmonic tones. However, the lack of many non-harmonic tones makes them all the more special and appealing when they are finally sung. It adds a taste of flavor every once in a while to keep the interest but yet also keep the originality and simplicity of the hymn. This was just once case where non-harmonic tones were beneficial. Also, at the end of the piece, there is a suspension that the sopranos sustain and it truly magnifies the increase of tension until the tonic chord at the very end. It is something like non-harmonic tones that really do help make music more beautiful and more amazing.
Something I've been noticing a lot more this year because of chorale mostly is the presence of non-harmonic tones and what they can really bring to a song. We sang a Joshua Shank piece that used a lot of dissonance throughout the piece and at the end was where it really resolved. Really, the music was well structured around the lyrics of the song, which was a poem. I find that non-harmonic tones can convey the message of the text of music better than the text by itself if it is well done, much in the way a score enhances amove. Many old horror movies are known for their dissonant themes which show so well the chaos, confusion, and fear that all contribute to the feel of the movie. Part-writing with non-harmonic tones has been especially fun because it gives me a chance to take something normal or even boring and make it exciting and beautiful. It's just really cool to stumble across some note progressions that sound really cool.