An ear for music

Like any sophisticated product, the classical music of a civilisation makes demands on us. And western classical music is no different. The...

Like any sophisticated product, the classical music of a civilisation makes demands on us. And western classical music is no different. The introduction of harmony into music means that one is processing more auditory inputs than one is accustomed to. The series of notes that go to make up the melodic content of the composition is accompanied by the series of notes that harmonise this most important component of any musical composition. You would remember, from an earlier piece in this series, that to harmonise is to clothe the melody with a parallel series of notes which are compatible with the notes that constitute the melody.

The fallout of this harmonising is that one has to be able to take in the peripheral auditory input which one might have been ignoring earlier. Remember how the right eye takes in one image while the left eye takes in another? The brain fuses these two images to give us one single three-dimensional image. Try telling your right ear to take in one auditory image (the melody) while the left ear takes in the others (the harmony). You will begin to have a total auditory view of the musical composition as soon as you demand that your ears process the peripheral auditory inputs. "What else is happening?" is the question that your auditory sense must answer. This will become a reflex as your ears become more efficient. As a listening exercise use the typical Hindi film song.

The harmonising is attractive and easy and prepares you for the demands that Western classical composition will make. Let’s take a look at how this changes music for us. Harmony means that music moves vertically unlike Indian classical music which moves horizontally like this sentence. One takes in the two (or more) parallel strands of music, the melody moving horizontally while the harmony moves vertically creating chordal progression (a chord is a group of notes) as the two strands interweave like the warp and weft on a loom. This interweaving creates different textures like that of the cloth and the skin. You will notice the same kind of difference between one composition and the other and will begin to label compositions as silken or coarse.

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The attitude to harmony changed as one period of western classical music gave way to the other. In the Baroque period (1600-1750), harmony was more important to the composer than melody. Best example? The Brandenburg Concertos by Bach.

In the Classical period (1750-1825), however, Mozart concentrated on melody thereby making music more horizontal. Your ears have to hunt for the harmony because the melody became so important and was so attractive. The melody moved in steps and was perfectly balanced making the music less daunting. Best example? Try the Horn Concertos by Mozart. Note the absence of vertical layering. In the next period, the successors of Mozart gave up the intellectual approach to music. A balanced step-by-step melody gave way to the long, flowing melody of the Romantic period (1825-1900). Content became more important than form. Best example? The compositions for solo piano by Chopin or Swan Lake or Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky. Melody became a means to exhibit passion, just as melody was an excuse for the most intricate layering by Bach. Being aware of texture, chordal progression, vertical v/s horizontal movement will enhance your appreciation of western classical music.