Chord Progression - Chord Progressions in Classical Music

Chord Progressions in Classical Music

Early European art music developed through embellishment of a single line of melody and classical theory still emphasizes the correct "horizontal" progress of single-note parts, sometimes known as "voice-leading". Generally, to the melody in the upper part is added first a bass line and then two inner lines to complete the chords in four part harmony suitable for a choir or string section, terminating with cadences, avoiding some chord inversions and favoring others, maintaining an orderly and melodic conjunct, contrary and oblique motion of each part relative to the others in order to achieve unity of texture by avoidance of inappropriate intervals, parallel fifths and octaves etc. Much practice is given to the art of harmonic transition and development that is essential to classical music's use of harmony as a means of achieving unity in a large-scale form. While (as noted above) classical music has its cliche progressions, they are seldom named and discussed: perhaps only Schoenberg among the authors of popular text-books of harmony has made some attempt to do so.

Read more about this topic:  Chord Progression

Famous quotes containing the words classical music, chord, classical and/or music:

    The basic difference between classical music and jazz is that in the former the music is always greater than its performance—Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, for instance, is always greater than its performance—whereas the way jazz is performed is always more important than what is being performed.
    André Previn (b. 1929)

    The notes, random
    From tuning, wander into the heat
    Like a new insect chirping in the scrub,
    Untired at noon. A chord gathers and spills....
    Philip Larkin (1922–1986)

    Culture is a sham if it is only a sort of Gothic front put on an iron building—like Tower Bridge—or a classical front put on a steel frame—like the Daily Telegraph building in Fleet Street. Culture, if it is to be a real thing and a holy thing, must be the product of what we actually do for a living—not something added, like sugar on a pill.
    Eric Gill (1882–1940)

    If mass communications blend together harmoniously, and often unnoticeably, art, politics, religion, and philosophy with commercials, they bring these realms of culture to their common denominator—the commodity form. The music of the soul is also the music of salesmanship. Exchange value, not truth value, counts.
    Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979)