Harmony and tonality in Western classical music
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Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can explain the fundamentals of harmony and tonality and how they are used in Western classical music.
Key learning points
- In the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods, tonality was almost always major or minor.
- Every piece has a key signature, which explains which notes should be used in the given key.
- Harmony in all three periods is based on primary chords (I, IV and V), with some use of secondary chords.
- Romantic composers experimented more with chord choice and chromatic notes.
- Cadences are fundamental to all three periods with perfect and imperfect cadences being the most common.
Keywords
Tonality - the type of notes and chords that a piece of music is based on (e.g. minor, major, atonal)
Harmony - the way that notes combine to create chords and the way that those chords are used in a composition
Key - the specific set of notes that a piece is based on (e.g. C minor)
Key signature - which sharps or flats should be used in a particular key, written at the start of each stave
Cadence - a combination of two chords at the end of a phrase or section
Common misconception
Harmony and tonality are the same thing.
Tonality is to the type of notes and chords that are used (e.g. major). Harmony is the way the notes and chords are used within that key. Think of tonality as a language (e.g. English) and harmony as the word choice and order in a sentence.
Teacher tip
There is a lot of content covered here. Try to build opportunities to revisit, consolidate and recap the main learning from this through homework or extension activities. Practice identifying key signatures and cadences is useful for the course, and there are various online tools designed for this.
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