Editing Harmony (section)

{{short description|Aspect of music}}
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[[File:US Navy 080615-N-7656R-003 Navy Band Northwest's Barbershop Quartet win the hearts of the audience with a John Philip Sousa rendition of.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|[[Barbershop quartet]]s, such as this US Navy group, sing 4-part pieces, made up of a melody line (normally the lead) and 3 harmony parts. ]]
In [[music]], '''harmony''' is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas.<ref name="Harmony in Design: A Synthesis of L">{{cite journal |last1=Lomas |first1=J. Derek |last2=Xue |first2=Haian |title=Harmony in Design: A Synthesis of Literature from Classical Philosophy, the Sciences, Economics, and Design |journal=She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation |date=1 March 2022 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=5–64 |doi=10.1016/j.sheji.2022.01.001 |s2cid=247870504 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct [[pitch (music)|pitches]] or [[timbre|tones]] coinciding with one another; harmonic objects such as [[chord (music)|chords]], [[Texture (music)|textures]] and [[tonality|tonalities]] are identified, defined, and categorized in the development of these theories. Harmony is broadly understood to involve both a "vertical" dimension (frequency-space) and a "horizontal" dimension (time-space), and often overlaps with related musical concepts such as [[melody]], [[timbre]], and [[Form (music)|form]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chan |first1=Paul Yaozhu |last2=Dong |first2=Minghui |last3=Li |first3=Haizhou |title=The Science of Harmony: A Psychophysical Basis for Perceptual Tensions and Resolutions in Music |journal=Research |date=29 September 2019 |volume=2019 |pages=1–22 |doi=10.34133/2019/2369041|pmid=32043080 |pmc=7006947 }}</ref>

A particular emphasis on harmony is one of the core concepts underlying the theory and practice of [[Western culture#Music|Western music]].<ref>Malm, William P. (1996). ''Music Cultures of the Pacific, the Near East, and Asia'', p. 15. {{ISBN|0-13-182387-6}}. Third edition. "Homophonic texture...is more common in Western music, where tunes are often built on chords (harmonies) that move in progressions. Indeed this harmonic orientation is one of the major differences between Western and much non-Western music."</ref> The study of harmony involves the juxtaposition of individual pitches to create chords, and in turn the juxtaposition of chords to create larger [[chord progressions]]. The principles of connection that govern these structures have been the subject of centuries worth of theoretical work and vernacular practice alike.<ref>{{Cite Grove |last=Dahlhaus |first=Car |title=Harmony}}</ref>

Drawing both from music theoretical traditions and the field of [[psychoacoustics]], its perception in large part consists of recognizing and processing [[Consonance and dissonance|consonance]], a concept whose precise definition has varied throughout history, but is often associated with simple mathematical ratios between coincident pitch frequencies. In the physiological approach, consonance is viewed as a continuous variable measuring the human brain's ability to 'decode' aural sensory input. Culturally, ''consonant'' pitch relationships are often described as sounding more pleasant, euphonious, and beautiful than ''dissonant'' pitch relationships, which can be conversely characterized as unpleasant, discordant, or rough.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Musical building blocks |url=https://www.ismtrust.org/resources/primary-toolkit/composing-improvising-and-doodling/musical-building-blocks |access-date=2021-10-02|website=ISM Trust}}</ref>

In [[popular harmony|popular]] and [[jazz harmony]], chords are named by their [[root (chord)|root]] plus various terms and characters indicating their qualities. In many types of music, notably baroque, romantic, modern, and jazz, chords are often augmented with "tensions". A tension is an additional chord member that creates a relatively [[Consonance and dissonance|dissonant interval]] in relation to the bass. The notion of [[counterpoint]] seeks to understand and describe the relationships between melodic lines, often in the context of a [[polyphonic]] texture of several simultaneous but independent voices. Therefore, it is sometimes seen as a type of harmonic understanding, and sometimes distinguished from harmony.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Sachs|first1=Klaus-Jürgen|title=Counterpoint|last2=Dahlhaus|first2=Carl |date=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.06690|isbn=9781561592630}}</ref> 

Typically, in the classical [[common practice period]], a dissonant chord (chord with tension) "resolves" to a consonant chord. Harmonization usually sounds pleasant when there is a balance between consonance and dissonance. This occurs when there is a balance between "tense" and "relaxed" moments. Dissonance is an important part of harmony when it can be resolved and contribute to the composition of music as a whole. A misplayed note or any sound that is judged to detract from the whole composition can be described as disharmonious rather than dissonant.<ref name="Harmony in Design: A Synthesis of L"/>