h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This is in response to your offer in the Musicians Guild Forum.

I just want to know of any tips and tricks as to how to write a harmonising melody. I'm hoping that my theory studies will help me as well, but it probably won't come until a little later.

Btw, I lived in Norway for 4 years when i was younger. I've also travelled around it quite a bit. Unfortunately I can't speak any Norweigan as I went to an English school.

Hullo!

Well, are you interested in classical harmonizing (like mozart style)? Or just counterpoint theory? Are you writing two melodies, or perhaps three?

Anyway, the best tip is to always think chords. When you make your melody, you fit chords to that melody. This will give you a limited selection of tones to choose for your conunterpoint. Then you choose the tones that fit the counterpoint in the best way. There is really no such thing as rules when it comes to melody composing, but there are certain guidelines for it.

First of all, your melody should have a defined beginning and end (it is often a good idea to start and end on the bottom tone (i dunno what that is called in english, but it's the main tone after which you name the scale, for instance C in C major)). Additionally, you may use the seventh tone in the scale to create a certain tention that dissolves into tonica...

Shape is also of some importance, your melody should, while not being too repetitive, have something that repeats itself, thus presenting a pattern that the listener can latch onto (this does of course not apply to contemporary music).

I'll write more when I have time, but I'm too tired right now...

Well, where were I, oh yes. It is important that you make your counterpoint as indepedndent as possible of the main melody, this is usually easier to achieve if you use three voices, two will often sound a bit empty (i.e. you only get a variation of different intervals). You should also feel free to use independent rhtythms, that way the listener will easier hear that there are independent voices. Ever considered polyrhythms? It can be very cool, if used correctly...

Um, yeah, normal harmonizing, you have three very important chords in harmonizing, i will also include a fourth one, but there are no real rules here, a good composer breaks these rules all the time (note that these rules were made in the 1750's and so does not apply to, for instance, Bach, Händel and Vivaldi):

Tonica (not sure if this is the correct name in English) (T): which is the main chord of the key. I.e. C major in C major, A minor in A minor

Subdominant (S): A fourth up from Tonica, F major in C major... it just sounds plain good.

Dominant (D): A fifth up from tonica, holds the seventh tone of the scale (the leading tone), and thus creates a tension that should be dissolved into T. Note that to get this tension, you will have to use a major chord, even though you are composing in minor. An example is G major, in the key of C major.

Tonica submediant (Ts): A third below the key, a minor chord in major, and vice versa. Quite handy...

Try out these chords, and see how they work together. There are certain guidelines for good beginnings and ends, but I'll leave that till later. Feel free to ask questions. I'm pretty new to this myself, only started learning this about half a year ago, so I'm certain that there are some others at the musicians guid who probably know more than I do.

Anyway, you should try out some of the following lines of chords:
T S D T, (I dunno the word in english, but it is called "Den tonale kadens" in Norwegian, if that helps).
D T, "Autentisk kadens"
S T, "Plagal Kadens"
These can be used for concluding your melodies, but do note that noen of this is meant to wreck your own creativity, they are guidelines, not rules. Composers break these at will...

Hope this helps, feel free to ask questions, and I'lll try to answer them as best I can...

My god, that was a lot of typos... arrgh!