How to Vary the Harmony for Repeated Notes - Music Theory

Many composers and students of harmony worry about harmonising repeated notes in a melody. Repeated notes can make for melodic stagnation and the remedy is often to create harmonic interest but how is this achieved? This music theory lesson goes through how to select the three diatonic chords that can be interchanged while a melody note is repeated, and explains how to use inversion chords in this context. He then explains how to use chromatic chords and secondary dominants to enrich the result further. In the example worked through during this video no fewer than eight repeated notes occur back to back in the melodic line yet the harmony is hugely varied.
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🕘 Timestamps
0:00 - Introduction to how to vary the harmony for repeated notes
0:36 - A straightforward way to solve the issue
2:34 - The point of this video
3:25 - Playing the example
4:02 - Working through the example piece
15:51 - Conclusion
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[@MusicMattersGB]

Learn Music Online - Check out our courses here! www.mmcourses.co.uk/courses

[@jayducharme]

Well done! "Distraction" is a great way to describe it. When you first played your example, I had trouble hearing that repeated Eb.

[@MusicMattersGB]

😀

[@carlstenger5893]

Excellent demonstration of harmonization. Thank you!

[@MusicMattersGB]

Thank you

[@charlotteathena]

eight repeated notes in a row is perfect training for if you ever want to reharmonise The Weeknd's vocal melodies

[@MusicMattersGB]

😀

[@ruramikael]

Liszt is the master of one-note melodies with his amazing harmonies.

[@MusicMattersGB]

Absolutely

[@markchapman6800]

In the program of one choral festival that I sang in, there was a piece for soprano solo and a capella choir. The young lady who successfully auditioned for it (IIRC, there were general auditions, and the successful candidates were assigned to the pieces most suitable for them) was not impressed when she realised that the entire solo line was one note!

[@MusicMattersGB]

😀

[@Ropush]

Another good example of this is Verdi's opera Falstaff. In the third act there's a song where each note is the toll of the clock counting towards midnight. And each time Falstaff sings the time with the same note, but the harmony changes under him. It's awesome!

[@MusicMattersGB]

It’s a wonderful moment!

[@dwukMUSIC]

Another great video. Thanks for sharing.

[@MusicMattersGB]

A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk

[@theophilos0910]

To cite one tiny example of accompaniment to a series of repeated notes in the melodic line out of Mozart’s gargantuan output-have a dekko at the first 20 bars or so of the 3rd movement from his pasticcio ballet Les Petits Riens (‘The Little Nothings’ written in Paris, March-April 1778 = K. 299b which in a several movements made use of various popular French tunes from Gluck, Piccini etal.) in 2/4 Metre written by Mozart himself in the key of C using only 2 violini parts and 2 flauti parts (i.e. without viole & bassi) mark’d ‘Andantino’ - NB: pay close attention to the solo Flauto parts and two violins accompaniment in bars 9 & 11) where the first flute part contains three repeated E’s - echo’d 2 bars later by the 2do Flauto solo-but these repeated E’s are lovingly given a breathtakingly sublime Mozartean harmonic accompaniment in the 2 violini (missing both viole e bassi) express’d in the 1778-1781 so-call’d Parisian stile … There are literally hundreds of similar examples of ‘repeated notes with different harmonic accompaniments’ to be found in Mozart’s oeuvre especially compositions of M. written between 1776-1791 - this is just to give you a tiny example of what profound effects that man could achieve-with the simplest means …

[@MusicMattersGB]

Absolutely

[@1000foxtrot]

Great video ... I loved every moment .. thank you so much

[@MusicMattersGB]

A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk

[@pauldavis6857]

How clever! And yes, to respond to your observation - I know what you're like! Thank you again for a stimulating lecture.

[@MusicMattersGB]

😀

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

I thought at first there was a mistake but I had trouble reading the ledger lines. Great lesson as usual.

[@MusicMattersGB]

😀

[@ulfsvensson9710]

Very interresting an clever! And explaned in a easy understandeble manor. Thank you

[@MusicMattersGB]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Someman1209]

Wonderful Garreth. Sounds great for choral as well.

[@MusicMattersGB]

A pleasure. Yes it does.

[@TheAmphibic]

Fantastic lesson Gareth!

[@MusicMattersGB]

That’s most kind. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk

[@patrickwambua660]

Wonderful maestro

[@MusicMattersGB]

Many thanks

[@andallicansayis]

i need the same video but with the repeated note in the bass

[@MusicMattersGB]

We can organise that.

[@sayonara6301]

This is good thank you

[@MusicMattersGB]

A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk

[@Silks]

That was a juicy second half

[@MusicMattersGB]

Glad you enjoyed it.

[@JanCarlComposer]

Thanks for the instructive lesson. Though for me personally, there is perhaps a little too much "going on" in the example from the harmonic point of view, your approach is nevertheless very helpful.

[@MusicMattersGB]

Thanks for your positive feedback

[@isaacshaw1596]

Just a general observation, when you do these exercises I notice that you do tend to write the bass part quite high. Especially in the demonstrating how to use 'x' chord in context. Like the following the Neapolitan chord video the bass part is up the top of the bass clef stave. So just wondering do you prefer that register of the piano?

[@MusicMattersGB]

I don’t have a particular preference but sometimes it helps the aural clarity for the purposes of the video.

[@brittenmusic6923]

Adding the 11th, a Get out of Jail card there. 😊

[@MusicMattersGB]

😀

[@FondueBrothers]

The auxiliary notes in the Bass and Alto parts of bar 2 sound suspiciously like parallel intervals.

[@MusicMattersGB]

Parallel 3rds are absolutely fine. Music is full of parallel 3rds and 6ths.