To harmonize a melody, choose a chord for each strong beat that contains the melody note, or treat that note as a deliberate non-chord tone. Start with the key, mark the points where the tune comes to rest, and then write the bass, which should move against the melody and avoid parallel perfect intervals. The method is the same for a folk song and a chorale, and the example below uses the opening of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, which is in the public domain.
\nBeethoven’s melody is written in D major in the Ninth Symphony. Transposed into C, the opening is E E F G G F E D C C D E E D D. The first phrase, E E F G G F E D, ends on D. The second, C C D E E D D, also ends on D. In C major, D is the fifth of G, so both endings call for a G chord underneath.
\nRead in 4/4, the excerpt occupies four bars. The plan is one chord per bar, which is a slow harmonic rhythm for a tune of this kind. Two phrase endings on D over G are a pause, not a close, so the harmony has to make the second phrase sound different from the first.
\nA melody note belongs to every chord that contains it, so E belongs to C major, A minor and E minor. The choice of chord is therefore a choice about which chord a note should support, not about which chord it can belong to. Each bar gets the chord that fits its strong notes, and the weak notes can be passing tones.
\n| Bar | Melody | Chord | How each melody note is used |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | E E F G | C | E and E are the third of C, F is a passing tone, and G is the fifth |
| 2 | G F E D | G7 | G is the root, F is the seventh, E passes down to D, and D is the fifth |
| 3 | C C D E | Am | C is the third of A minor, D passes, and E is the fifth |
| 4 | E D D | G7 | E is not in G7 and falls by step to D, and D is the fifth |
The table gives the plan for the second harmonization, which is the one recommended below. Bar 2 uses G7 rather than plain G because the F becomes a chord tone, the seventh of the chord. Bar 4 is the second phrase ending, and its E is the only melody note that is not in its chord. It falls by step to D, so it sounds as a sixth above the bass that resolves down to the fifth.
\nThe first harmonization uses C, G7, C and G7, one chord per bar, and it is correct at every strong beat. The second uses C, G7, A minor and G7. The two differ only in bar 3, where the plain tonic becomes the vi chord.
\nThe first harmonization is not wrong. Its C in bar 3 is a root, and the chord is steady, which is a fair choice for a tune that wants to sound settled. The objection is that the first harmonization does nothing with the second phrase.
\nThe second is the better choice. The first has the same two chords for both phrases, so the melody’s two halves, which differ in their notes, sound like one idea played twice. The second keeps the first phrase unchanged and gives the second phrase its own chord, A minor, on the strong beats of bar 3. Over that chord the C and E are the third and fifth, which suit the melody’s C C D E well.
\nThe move from G7 to A minor is the deceptive progression, the dominant followed by vi instead of I. Here it moves the phrase on rather than closing it, which is what the second phrase needs. The melody’s last note, D, returns over G7 and ends the excerpt as a pause.
\nThe second harmonization has a bass line of C, B, A, G, falling by step. Each bass note is the root or a chord tone: C is the root of the tonic, B is the third of G7 in first inversion, A is the root of A minor, and G is the root of G7. The B in bar 2 is a deliberate choice, because it keeps the bass off the melody’s G at the same moment and gives the line its step. A bass that moves by step is also easy to sing, which makes it a useful test of the harmonization before any chord is played.
\nLook at the bass against the melody at each downbeat. The melody starts on E, G, C and E, and the bass starts on C, B, A and G. The intervals are a compound third, a compound sixth, a compound third and a compound sixth. None is a fifth or an octave, so the bass creates no parallel or hidden perfect intervals on the strong beats. Between bars 1 and 2 the bass falls while the melody rises. Between bars 2 and 3 both lines fall, but the intervals stay imperfect, so the similar motion creates no problem. Between bars 3 and 4 the bass falls while the melody rises from C to E, which keeps the two lines distinct.
\nOnce the chords and bass are written, check each pair of chords by looking at the two outer voices. If both voices move in the same direction and land on a fifth or an octave, one note has to change. The check takes a minute. Chord changes on the bar line are a common place for the error, because the bass moves while the top voice holds.
\nThen sing the bass alone and the melody alone. The bass should have a shape you would want to sing, and the melody should still sound like the tune when the chords are not present. If the melody loses its outline when the harmony is added, the chords are too busy for the tune.
\nThe first error is to treat every melody note as a chord tone. Weak-beat notes often pass, and passing notes are not a fault. The error is a non-chord tone on a strong beat with no reason for being there, such as an E over G that does not fall to D.
\nThe second error is to start each phrase on the tonic. The second phrase here begins on A minor, and the phrase still makes sense. The tonic is the expected chord, but a phrase that begins on another chord is common, and the melody can carry it.
\nThe third error is to change chords on every beat. Faster harmonic rhythm is not better. A new chord on every beat leaves no time for any one of them to support its melody note, and the tune loses its outline.
\nTake a folk tune you know well and harmonize it in four bars. Write the melody with its phrase endings marked, choose one chord per bar, and label every melody note as a chord tone or a non-chord tone. Then write a bass line that moves against the melody, check the downbeats for parallel fifths and octaves, and play the result.
\nThe cadences article explains why a dominant under a phrase ending sounds like a pause. The diatonic chords article lists the chords you can choose from in a major key, and roman numeral analysis shows how to write the plan so it transposes. For the reverse task, writing a melody over a chord sequence, the melody-writing article covers the same relations from the other side.
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