Today I’m going to talk about the importance of planning where to use your out-of-key materials, in this case, harmonic materials. The title suggests a strategic use for these, and by that I mean where you choose to place them. While what you’re about to hear is not a rule of thumb kind of thing, it can actually help you a lot in keeping your music grounded, balanced and with a sense of direction while all sorts of harmonic surprises happen.
So, let’s get into it:
Organizing Tension
The main aspect to consider is what you put on strong and weak beats. In a four by four measure, the first and third beats are the strongest so I focused on using these to create the harmonic direction I intended. Here is a striped down version of what it would sound like without the out of key harmonic surprises:
Played chords
| F#m7 – G#m7 | C#m7 – Emaj7 – F#m7/E | Amaj9 – F#m7 | C#m9 – Emaj9 | Amaj7 – G#m7 |
After this, I started experimenting with those out-of-key transitions from one chord to next, within the chord structure I had already created. And here’s how that section ended up sounding:
Played chords (out-of-ley chords in bold)
| F#m7 – G#m7 | C#m7 – Emaj7 – Gm7 – F#m7/E | Amaj9 – F#m7 – D#m7 – G#7 | C#m9 – Csus4/9 – Bsus4/9 – E7 b9 | A maj7 – G#m7 | C#m7 – Amaj9 – G alt – D#º – Am6/E – G#7 | Amaj7 – G#7/A# – C#m7/B – Csus4/9 – Dmaj7 – F#m7/E | C#m7 |
As the music progresses, you’ll hear more and more harmonic surprises that I inserted in between the created chord structure and the next question is, what did I use to create such harmonic contrasts?
Harmonic Materials
The main aspect that I considered, in terms of the harmonization process was, of course, making sure that I chose chords that would work with the bass and melody while maintaining a good voice-leading between the in and out chords.
To expand my harmonic choices, I also opted by using ambiguous chords. This means using rootless, suspended or chords by fourths where the quality of being major or minor isn’t defined in the chord itself and rather let the melody do that work in the implied harmony, like in this example:
Played chords
| C#m9 – Csus4/9 – Bsus4/9 – E7 b9 | Amaj9 |
There are also cases where I use “weird” or less common chord inversions. Those exist as a compromise between the relationship of the chord I choose for the melody and the bass movement itself. In conjunction, sometimes you’ll hear chords with third or fourth inversions but mind you that these are passing chords and for the most part, the bass movement ends up justifying whatever is happening in the harmonic upper structure, and provided that you also have good voice-leading going on:
Played chords
| C#sus4/9 – C#7 – C#7/B – A# alt – B6/A – G#m7 | Amaj7 |
Or in this other example:
Played chords
| Amaj7 – G#7/A# – C#m7/B – Csus4/9 – Dmaj7 – F#m7/E | C#m7 |
Now, if you feel overwhelmed by the chord options, you can also go through the harmonizing process by thinking of borrowed chords from other keys to harmonize your melodies and thus have more control over the process of where you pick your chords from. If you need, transform those chords to make them fit the melody. For instance, this is a clash between chord and melody:
What you heard with the melody was a Eb major chord. But if I tweak it a little bit, now it can be made to work:
I changed it to an Eb sus4/9 chord to accommodate the melody.
Other tools I used for out-of-key chords were secondary dominants or inserting a ii – V with a secondary dominant before a target chord, like in this example:
Played chords
| Amaj7 – F#m7 – D#m7 – G#7 | C#m9 |
I also used chromatic approach chords together with secondary dominants:
Played chords
| C#m9 – Csus4/9 – Bsus4/9 – E7 b9 (SD) | Amaj9 |
And, near the end, I used block chords to outline a chromatic arch and finished with a perfect fourth chord cycle using suspended 4/9 chords:
Played chords
| Gsus4/9 – Gbsus4/9 – Fsus4/9 – Asus4/9 – Bb7/D – Eb+/Db – Am6/C – B9 #11 | Asus4/9 – Dsus4/9 – Gsus4/9 – Csus4/9 |
With all these interventions, let me show you how the whole music piece sounds:
Final Thoughts
These were my harmonization choices and it was the process that I chose for introducing tension with out-of-key chords, all while keeping a good harmonic direction. If you’re uncomfortable with the melodic harmonization process, check the how to harmonize a melody course. Experiment with these ideas and if you want to suggest other ideas to implement this approach, please leave them in the comments.
Happy Composing!
