Key learning points

1. Composers often create chord progressions to underpin their music.
2. You can start with a chord progression before you create a melody, or start with a melody then add chords.
3. Adding chords to a melody is called harmonisation.
4. You can create dissonance by using chords that are not triads and using occasional melody notes from outside the chord.
5. Broken chords and chord inversions can add interest to a chord progression.

Keywords

• Chord progression - A chord progression (or chord sequence) is a repeating pattern of chords.

• Harmonisation - Harmonisation is adding notes or chords to a melody to provide harmony in the music.

• Triad - A triad is a chord made up of three notes from the scale: the root, third and fifth.

• Dissonance - Dissonance is when notes clash. The harmony sounds uncomfortable and feels like it needs to resolve.

• Inversion - A chord inversion is when the notes of a chord are repositioned so the root note is no longer the lowest note in the chord.

Common misconception