OPINION: The mystery of musical harmony

I recently volunteered to serve as pianist for a worship service at our church. Our regular pianist is on vacation, and the pianist who we usually lean on when she is gone was not available this time.

So, I thought I could do it at least once.

This was my first time in life to try such a thing, although I have played the piano a little bit through the years, mostly for my own entertainment and relaxation. It has been a very revealing experience; one that makes me appreciate even more the people who regularly support the singing in their churches by playing instruments. For most of last year and much of this year our church has been holding an abbreviated service, with fewer songs than before, fewer things like choir specials or offertories, or Gloria Patris or Doxologies, but we recently returned to a more normal service, which meant added musical numbers, interludes, and so on.

After a couple of Sundays, I heard our regular pianist, Penny Schwitters, say that she wasn't yet used to playing so many things during worship. My brief experience of playing piano for worship has given me more appreciation for the people who do this regularly, as a ministry within the life of the church. There is a lot to do, a lot to arrange, a lot to prepare for, and a lot to listen for as things are happening on Sunday. You have to pay attention, to several things at once.

To me, one of the mysteries of music is the harmony. Whether we sing with instrumental accompaniment or sing a cappella in church, we normally sing in harmony, the harmony of differently-pitched voices.

Most church music, and much of music in general is written for a harmony of high-pitched voices combined with lower-pitched voices. The women's part in the high range is soprano, and in the low part alto. There may occasionally be music that also has voices in between those highs and lows.

The men's voices are tenor in the high range and bass in the lower, deeper range. When you put those high and low tones together in the right way, you get a wonderful harmony. The notes sound right when sounded together.

I grew up learning to sing by a Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do concept of the musical scale. I'm not sure that teachers of music commonly teach that way of designating the tones of the scale. It may be more common to go by numbers, with the scale notes being 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 rather than Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do. Harmony, either way, involves dealing with these 1-2-3s or Do-Re-Mis in relationship to each other and in combination.

Anyway, I actually learned by what is called shaped notes, where each tone of the musical scale has a shape for writing it on the page. The Do, or base note of a key, is shaped as an equilateral triangle (like a pyramid); the Re is shaped like a kettle drum, flat on top and round on the bottom; the Mi is a diamond shape; the Fa is a right triangle; the So is a circle; the La is a square; the Ti is an ice cream cone; and so on. When we think harmonies, we think combinations of these scale notes that harmonize when they are sounded together.

Some instruments, like trumpets, flutes, clarinets and tubas, sound basically only single tones at a time. So, to have harmony, with those instruments, you have to have a group of people playing together, an orchestra say. Some of the string instruments, such as violins or fiddles, can sound more than one note together, but they can't do a wide range of notes together. So, it is common for a fiddler to have someone on another instrument, like a guitar, to "second" for him, to harmonize with the fiddle music, to accompany the lead line of music. I am often amazed at how good is the "ear" of many of these folk who play rhythm guitar in support of other lead instruments like the fiddle, mandolin or banjo. They listen as they play, and can anticipate what chord combinations are needed as they strum along, keeping time with the beat, and keeping their strums in harmony with the lead line of music. Guitars are quite versatile, and can also be played as solo instruments, or can take the lead in certain songs.

But I think no instrument ever invented is as versatile as the piano. The piano is more completely designated as a piano-forte, which just means an instrument that is capable of being played soft or loud at will. The piano also allows musicians to play in any key, and to cover a very wide range of pitches, very low, and very high. Anyone who has ever read about the invention of the piano becomes aware of what an accomplishment that was to provide such a wide versatility. It is almost like having an orchestra that can be played by one person.

I first learned to play the rhythm guitar before learning to play the piano. Commonly, the easiest key for guitar is the key of G. The fingering of the chords in key of G is pretty easy. We may start with a tune like "You Are My Sunshine." You only need the G chord, the C chord, and the D chord, to play rhythm guitar to accompany that little tune. The G chord calls for fingering the sixth string at the third fret, and the first string at the third fret. So it is pretty easy. You get a Do-Me-So-Do chord that way (or a 1-3-5-8 chord if you will). The C chord is a little harder, but you get a Fa-La-Do-Fa sound together. The other main chord is the D or D7 chord, played mainly on the bottom four strings, and making a So-Ti-Re-So chord or a So-Ti-Re-Fa-So chord.

I have known music groups to sing all evening using just those three chords. It works on piano too, only usually many other chords show up as well.

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Editor's note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge and an award-winning columnist, is vice president of Pea Ridge Historical Society. He can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected], or call 621-1621.