It's really fun to explore singing different kinds of harmonies. If you take any particular musical scale, say C major, then C is the key note, or root note, or home note in that scale. And every other note in the scale has a different relationship with it, this is known as the 'interval' between it and the root note.
Harmony, obviously, is the sound that's produced when 2 different notes are played together.
But some notes together create what we experience as 'harmony' and some create what we perceive as 'discord'.
And still others fall somewhere in between.
Our perception of harmony is partly determined by the music we are familiar with, the cultural norms, and musical patterns we've heard in our lives. But that in its turn is based on the actual vibrations of the different notes and how they interact with each other.
In my 'Voiceplay!' Creative Singing Sessions I like to get people to sing what spontaneously comes out of them, but also to consciously explore different kinds of harmonies, so they can discover sounds that are not already familiar to them, and have more choice in what music they are creating together.
On my community music training we explored a lot, what kinds of experiences we got from different harmonies / discords, and below I give you a rundown of the qualities of these intervals, as perceived by us, and by many many other people exploring the same stuff. I invite you to explore this yourself (if you have an instrument you can use) and find out if you agree or not!
C to C# is called a minor 2nd. This is very discordant. If you play these notes alternating repeatedly you will get the scary music from the film 'jaws'.
C to D is called a major 2nd. This is also fairly discordant, but some people love it and it is well-used in Bulgarian singing.
C to D# is called a minor 3rd. This has a melancholy, or gloomy, or some say, eerie feeling. It is the predominant sound of minor keys. It's very common in songs we are familiar with.
C to E is called a major 3rd. This is the typical bright happy quality of familiar harmonies and melodies.
C to F is called the 4th. It has a harmonious sound to most, with quite an open, active, unresolved feeling about it. Quite a lot of African music uses this in its melody and harmony, more so than 'western' music.
C to F# is called the augmented 4th. This has a very discordant sound when played as a harmony. It was avoided in mediaeval church music being labelled 'the devil in music'! It can also have a fairy- or pixie- like sound but more when used in melody rather than harmony. You can hear it used in a lot of songs written by the 70's band 'Gong'.
C to G is called the 5th. This is the most harmonious interval there is other than the octave itself. It feels peaceful, open, cosmic, blissful. Gregorian chant , which is about connection with God, is based on this harmony. Rudolf Steiner says that children 'live in the mood of the 5th'
C to G# is called the minor 6th. This has a 'minor' or melancholy sound. It creates a feeling of poignancy. Used in Chopin's Nocturnes.
C to A is called the major 6th. This has the uplifting sound associated with major intervals, but it has a feeling of needing to go somewhere more than the major third does. It's familiar in the song 'my bonny lies over he ocean'
C to B flat is called the minor 7th. It creates a feeling of suspense and expectancy.
C to B is called the major 7th. It is very discordant and has a driving feeling to resolve it. It has a strange and ethereal feel.
I find this stuff so fascinating, I hope you do too. Whats even more enjoyable is to sing or play these intervals and feel them.
You're very welcome to come to my Voiceplay sessions and we'll do some experimenting! Check them out: Voiceplay!
Happy exploring!