Now That’s Music Theory Progress! (Part 1)
Most music is goal oriented, especially music that has harmony or harmonic implications. As our music evolved over the centuries, composers discovered effective ways to arrange harmonies that gave the music motion, or a sense of moving forward toward a goal, hence the term harmonic progression.
Although there are many ways to create harmonic progressions, some of the strongest progressions are harmonic sequences. But before I show you some harmonic sequences, let’s first define sequence. And the easiest way to do that is with a melodic sequence.
Melodic Sequence
A sequence is a short musical pattern that is repeated at different pitch levels. A melodic sequence is when the repetition happens in the same voice (soprano, alto, tenor, or bass).
Here’s an example of a simple melodic pattern:
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Now we’ll make a melodic sequence by repeating it, each time a step higher:
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Sequences obviously break off after two or three repetitions to avoid boredom.
Harmonic Sequence
A harmonic sequence is the same idea, but it involves a chord pattern that repeats at different pitch levels.
Here is an excerpt from Pachelbel’s famous Canon in D
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The ↓4th-↑2nd harmonic sequence has been used by many composers. A complete version of the progression is sometimes referred to as a Rule of the Octave progression because all of the voices descend an octave. In the example below, notice how the soprano moves down by step until it is an octave lower. All of the voices also end up an octave lower from the first chord. Compare the first chord and the last chord of the progression: they are exactly an octave apart:
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Something else to note is that the progression follows the prescribed voice leading for progression by 4th (or 5th) and progression by 2nd, except for the voice leading to the last chord. Can you tell what is “wrong” with the voice leading to the last chord? You can download this progression written out in every major and minor key on the Harmonic Progressions Page.
In the next music theory lesson we’ll look at two more common harmonic sequences.
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The downloadable album below has a recording of Pachelbel’s canon along with some other famous pieces, such as Bach’s Air on a G String, Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus, and Clarke’s Trumpet Voluntary:
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