how to harmonise a melody like a romantic composer
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- Опубликовано: 30 янв 2025
- knowing how to add chromaticism in harmony is a tool every composer should be aware of. in this video we'll be exploring a few different methods of doing so by harmonising a simple melodic extract.
send me an email for lessons:
skylarlimex@gmail.com
melody fragment taken from 300 texts et réalisations - RAYNAUD Jean-Claude.
Amazing how a few chromaticisms move the melody somewhere else !
often, just by changing the harmony we open new paths to the melody we hadn't seen before!
Agree, adding chromatic notes made the biggest difference for me. Especially the first one, that got removed in the final version.
That's how the likes of Scriabin (in his early and middle periods) and Feinberg composed.
It almost feels like you started in the early romantic period like with Beethoven and moved into a later romantic style with this line, ultimately sounding more Schumann-esque
Many would say Beethoven is a classicist.
@@joebloggs396nobody would say that
@@vincent-ataramanikohe is often thought of as the bridge between classicism and romanticism as he took inspiration from haydn and mozart but also later from 1812 started moving to a more expressive form. Saying he is a thought of as a classicist is therefore not wrong per se, but just reductive
@@yriiiiiii haydn and mozart were romantic in many of their last works. The early Beethoven sonatas were already romantic as well, Beethoven kept many classical aspects but was a romantic first and foremost
@@vincent-ataramaniko wrong
This video is incredible! The style is straightforward and clear. More please???
Fantastic video
This is crazy useful! I definitely struggle with harmonising from a given melody, especially in a romantic style, but this is super clear. Thanks for all the help :)
A lot of this went over my head, but I really enjoyed just listening to the changes and hearing you explain them. Thanks for broadening my musical palate!
Am I the only one who loves the first one? Tbf, I love the classical styles of Mozart, Haydn, and Paganini to death, and that cadential 6/4 felt very homey and nostalgic.
It could be used as a very good storytelling device. The firsy one being at the beginning of the story, set in the home of the protagonist. The final one is returning to home after a long journey, or even after people living in the home have passed away, or the home having been destroyed/lost...
The first one excels in its simple elegance. Oftentimes in music, less is best. The final product is also melodic and evokes a different feeling.
Both are completely valid and invoke different feelings so it all depends on context
The first is also great, just perhaps not romantic specifically.
I liked the 3rd one with the suspensions and neighbor tones. It's rhythmically more interesting. I think the last one overdid it.
You're a great source for quick, easy-to-digest music content. As a fellow composer, stuff like this is incredibly useful when it comes to opening into deeper study and utilising techniques like this in my own writing! Like man, I could've adapted some of these ideas when I was working on my symphony!
the fact that you've written a symphony is by large a great feat already in and of itself!
Beginner pianist here! This was so impressive to watch as you build up a simple romantic melody to something even more beautiful and interesting! It truly makes me fall in love with classical (romantic-era) music all over again :)
nice yui pfp
@@user-wl4ct8pl3s thanks! she’s the cutest ^^
@@uufruity have you tried learning any of HTT's songs on piano?
@@user-wl4ct8pl3s No, I watched K-on prior to my journey with piano and I don’t remember recalling any songs that stuck out to me while I watched it!
@@uufruity i feel like honey sweet tea time (the song that mugi wrote) would be a cool one to learn on the piano
I actually enjoyed the example at 1:14 the most, with the suspension and appoggiatura in the Violin II. That first suspension is beautiful.
is it a real song?
I've started learning to compose properly recently and this is like the perfect thing for me to find.
Thank you
That was a really interesting watch! As a fellow Singaporean, I could also recognise your Singaporean accent immediately 😂
guilty as charged 😅
I loved it! It feels like you switched on/off the Brahms plugin
This is a great lesson for me to understand what harmonic devices I can have in my toolbox. Thank you!
underrated channel, great advice
very kind of you thank you!
Great video. After you added the interrupted cadence I was screaming at the screen "that doesn't sound resolved anymore!! AGH" which I suppose is the point :) . Interesting food for thought in my own improvisation.
lol ikr same
love this video. had the feeling of a painting tutorial. please do more videos in this style, taking concepts from classical music and explaining them clearly by applying them in a composition
This kind of video makes you realize how similar Romantic composers are to Jazz.
Love it. Examples of music theory in motion like this light that fire in me while I build up my piano technique before continuing with my composition work. Subbed.
Awesome video! Appreciate how you explain each change one at a time, telling how each functions.
short and sweet, well done
Thank you for providing such well-laid out and clear examples of harmonic possibilities. I liked the point made about not necessarily using everything!
Oddly enough, I can hear Tom Waits gravelly voice singing, some kind of strange lullaby on top of this. “Hush, was a black bird, hush was the night. You came to me in darkness… and threw away the light. “
based off of the melody alone, here's how i harmonized it.
i made this with a string orchestra (two violins, viola, cello, bass)
it starts out a bit more sad, with minor chords and tritones.
the harmony stays entirely within the normal range of Eb major since my style of orchestration doesn't usually go out of the key unless it is in harmonic minor
i added some dissonence by combining major seconds with tritones during parts that have
during the two notes before the crescendo line, i added an octave doubling to both violins to add extra power to the crescendo. the cellos arpeggiate to add a bit more texture.
during the crescendo, the chords switch from minor to major, before finally resolving in Eb major.
the violas stay on the same note despite the change in chord to add a bit of tension. (goes from Cm to Bb to Eb, the violas stay on C)
Thank you for this information, YOU GAINED NEW SUB! Keep up the good work man!
I wish the video played the raw melody. I cannot read sheet music without a reference tone, but I can think up chords and tones up very well in my head
the first one sounded like a church music. The finished result was stunning!
Amazing teacher. Appreciate more videos of this kind. Thank you again
Thank you for playing the examples several times it really helped me understand what you were doing. ❤
Okay, you got my attention, I’m all ears and I left you you a sub, it’s nothing much but I hope this will make your day better.
lol thank u so much for telling us to try it, I tried it and honestly I feel like I nailed it might have to expand, bless you for this
This has been inspirational to my own compositional art. Thank you!
Great video, concepts are very nicely explained👏👏
The more like jazz you make it the better it is.
Eye-opening (or should that be ear-opening) to hear the two versions side by side at the end. Great work!
Please do more of these!
THAT ITALIAN 6TH god it sounds so beautiful
Short, concise, practical and well explained. Perfect.
Very well done explanation/example!
3:02 we should show this to anyone who says they can’t tell the difference between schubert and schumann
is Schumann supposed to be the second one?
@@filipsakowski4492 yes! At least to my ear
More about harmonizing please!
This video was very understanding and great. i learned a lot from this!
Thank you. Such a great, short video. Subscribed!!
EXCELLENT VIDEO !!!
PLEASE MORE HARMOMIZING MELODY VIDEOS 👏🙌
This is a great exercise for me: please more of these ❤
A very helpful video. Keep up the great work !!
Fantastic. Very well done, very clear and to the point. God job!!!
the most MOST important thing in music, in my opinion, is narrative and context. There is space for every sound and ambient in music, given the narrative and context. Rationalization of compositional tools and processes, also subjective descriptors, gain more meaning and becomes more useful when associated with narrative and context.
i completely agree
Good stuff, harmony is so wonderful :)
Could you explain how you've named the chord at 3:21 at the upbeat? I'm not really sure how this chord is vii43dim/ii in Eb. Thank you!
the ii chord is F minor in the key of Eb, the diminished chord vii7 of F is E G Bb Db, and since Bb is in the bass, second inversion thus 43
Sometimes, simple things sound more beautiful.
Very informative! Subscribed👍👍
This is awesome, thank you very much for doing this.
So much helpful information in such a short video!
Thanks a lot!
Plz keep doing vids like this one
Good video 👍 finally someone who knows what's talking about
Last measure tension / resolution: Violin II - D (first beat) to C (second / third beats) ...
exactly! the same could be done in vlc or a suspension with the B natural
The additions to the original harmonisation move the music into more adventurous areas and that's fine, but the true talent of any composer in any age Western European music is to understand the value of simplicity and to sense when that's the appropriate choice. Some of the profoundest and most memorable passages of music, from Palestrina through Bach, Haydn, Brahms, Sibelius, Stravinsky, Copeland to Britten, Shostakovich, Ligeti, Glass and others "hit the mark" through simplicity, directness and transparency.
complexity concealed within simplicity is the hardest thing to achieve
Arhhh, harmony and counterpoint. My arch nemesis.
Very inspiring and professional. Please upload more of the same concept👌
That was awesome! Please make more videos like that. :)
awesome how every instrument sounds like a piano...
Hello fellow composer! Nice video!
Very well explained. More please!
Very well taught!
I don't understand anything of this but the first thing already sounded very nice!
Really nice video. You really showed a nuanced understanding of harmony here
Thank you Sir.
It is wonderful to continue learning.
Hmmm! sounds like Brahms and Reger too! Delicious.
Holy crap, this was enlightening. Please do more of these!
Wanting to learn this style of orchestration. Any recommendations on literature I can read?
Sounds like some Joe Hisaishi Ghibli magic! Love it!
That’s great!! Which romantic harmony book do you suggest for me to study?
Nice, good things to learn
That was amazing! Thank you. The only thing I missed was the actual sound of the strings. Anyway, great vid
I think one of the best impact was adding non harmony notes to bring more movement and spice to the inner lines ; will you be making more videos about that aspect ?
Great lesson! Please, keep going😊
incredible
awesome, thanks for this
Very interesting, thanks! I think this sounds more like the first iteration of a musical idea early in a music piece, then the second, enriched one, later in the piece. Do you know how to acquire the "tools" you mentioned at the end of the video? I try to remember the ones I see in each piece I learn but is there some kind of list? Do you have one?
Studying harmony and counterpoint.
@@furman.composer how? Any recommendations?
@@monsieurbrochant7528 French manuals (Gedalge, d'Indy, Dubois, Fauré...), Cherubini or Fux's books. There's a new trend going on in Partimento - also interesting to check. But commonly found books are indeed good: Kosta's Tonal Harmony, Aldwell's Harmony and Voice leading, Gauldin and Schoenberg's books. Even Walter Piston's are good. And, of course, plenty of solfège exercises (utilizing the same harmony and counterpoint exercises to sight sing each voice). May seem overwhelming at first glance, but diligently studied, this material can be perfected over 2 years without rushing or get tired, just taking few sessions per week. The rest is active listening and practice (with and without instrument).
Very informative! Thank you!
Great video, more from the romantic era please!
I do understand the roman numbers, what i don't understand are the numbers, what do they mean? Also what it means to have a "⁰" and what it is the / meaning? Can anyone please help me?
Hello, that can mean “diminished chord”
very very helpful thank you!
are there books one can go through to learn about chords and harmony? this kind of analysis. what are some of them?
Great content… good luck
beautiful!
An incredible brief video
After all NCT and variations added, the progression remains functional. It does not become less functional. For some reason, everybody uses the term "functional" as some kind of curse word. Without "functional" this progression would fall apart. It takes decades to internalize tonal-harmonic function.
Is there a wrong note in the audio for the first chord of the viola part in the final harmonization? The chord sounds like a V42 of ii instead of a viiº43, with a C in the viola instead of a Db.
The second violin part is tasteful!!!
The italian chord broke my hearth.
Very nice!
Moral of the story: variety is gud and a lot bigger than it actually is
Where can I find this collection of given melodies?
Armonice eso pero en do menor. Ya que Mi bemol mayor sentía que no le queda. Pero es mi opinión. Kas posibilidades de componer esa base son muchas.
Why is the harmony at 1:07 labeled as vii°/vi? I see where the vii° comes from, but the sixth degree of the scale in Eb major would be a c, but the bass plays a b natural. Shouldn't it be vii°/bvi or vii°/#V? Someone please explain, I am so confused...
it's going towards c minor and the seventh degree of c minor is B D F Ab
@@skylarlimex If c minor is the tonic in that context, then why is the c minor chord in the next bar still labeled as vi and not i? vi clearly implies that we are still in Eb major. So for some harmony symbols you are using c minor as a reference point and for others Eb major? Besides that: Wouldn't the diminished seventh degree of c minor be Bb, Db and E? I'm clearly missing something...
@@tobstobs950 it's only a tonicisation of c minor but we're clearly still in Eb major so we hear it as an interrupted cadence. we sharpen the seventh degree in c minor to get b natural
I wouldn't have used the C minor chord on beat 3 in the 2nd bar, it kind of spoils the surprise of the deceptive cadence at the end
what would you have used instead?
That was so cool!
Brilliant!!!
earned a sub