Reharmonization

Take any melody and change the chords behind the melody.

This technique creates different moods using the same melody.

Below is a simple four note melody D, C, B, G.

Listen how each chord voicing changes the mood of the melody.

Remember the melody will be the highest tone in the chord.

Lowest tones left - moving to higher tones right, the melody is the last note before the chord.

Melody in G major using half notes. D, C, B, G

Melody written on staff:

Diatonic or Commonly Used Harmony example 1:

D,F#,A, D D major

C,E,G, C C major

B,D,F#, B B minor

G,B,D, G G major

Planing Technique example 2:

B,E,A, D E minor eleventh

A,D,G, C D minor eleventh

Ab,Db,Gb, B D flat minor eleventh

E,A,D, G A minor eleventh

Planing used in example 2 was used by Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and other great composers.

Classical Approach example 3:

D, F, Bb, D B flat major first inversion

E,C,G, C C major first inversion - incomplete

F#,C,F#, B D dominant 6/7 first inversion

G,B, G G major - incomplete

Classical Contrary Motion approach example 4:

B,E,G#, D E dominant seventh second inversion

A,E,A, C A minor - incomplete

A, D#,G, B B dominant seventh third inversion - incomplete

E,B,D, G E minor seventh

Multi-tonic Approach example 5:

Eb,G,B, D E flat major seventh augmented

A,Eb,G C A minor seventh flat five

Gb,C,Eb, B A flat dominate seventh sharp nine (altered dominant)

Ab,Bb,Eb, G A flat major / E flat major (polychord)

For the last chord in example 5 - I used a Polychord (two chords played at one time).

Stravinsky was one of the pioneers of this technique.

Also example 5 uses a multi-tonic (multiple key) approach.

The keys are C harmonic minor, B flat major, D flat major and A flat major.

Now transpose these to each position (register) of your instrument, then to all 15 keys.

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