Theory vs. Harmony

[ShadowPlay]

Teachers use the words theory and harmony.

How do YOU differentiate?

[skydog]

apples and oranges

[EDS]

More like fruits and oranges

[A-Bone]

Teachers use the words theory and harmony.

How do YOU differentiate?

Joy Division fan? (I ask based on your username).

[bluejazzoid]

In my mind it's this:

Theory => Defines the underlying structure
Harmony => Explains why the structure is beautiful

[ShadowPlay]

Like you bluejazzoid, I tend to think of theory as the notes and scales... while harmony is the way these are put together to form chord progressions...


And A-Bone, the name is a reference to the Rory Gallagher song.

[colin617]

Um...they're not even close to synonymous?

[ShadowPlay]

Like when you play blues...

Theory might tell you about the minor third against the major third, while harmony might explain it as minor pentatonic over a I-IV-V.

Synonymous? Maybe not, but surely you can see the overlap.

[colin617]

Like when you play blues...

Theory might tell you about the minor third against the major third, while harmony might explain it as minor pentatonic over a I-IV-V.

Synonymous? Maybe not, but surely you can see the overlap.

Harmony: the simultaneous sounding of musical notes to produce a chord or chord progression which has a pleasing effect.

Music Theory: the study of how music works

You're asking the equivalent of "compare English to poetry" one is used to compose the other, but they are still completely different subjects.

[mmolteratx]

Harmony is a subset of music theory. I don't understand the question...

[colin617]

Harmony is a subset of music theory. I don't understand the question...

Neither do I.

[taez555]

It depends on the context in which they're being used. If the person is using it to describe the same thing, then they are interchangable.

[Fred Farkus]

Um...they're not even close to synonymous?

Strawberry and bicycle.

Mailbox and nuclear weapon.

Orangutan and suspension bridge.

How do you differentiate? :dunno

[Amp360]

When I was at Berklee I never took a "Music Theory" class. I did take four levels of Harmony.

What we learned started out pretty basic - how to figure out key sigs, chord construction, scale construction, modes, then we moved on to HI chords, analyzing tunes, etc....

At the end of the day I would say my Harmony classes were specific to certain things and we had othwer classes like Arranging, Ear Training, Counterpoint, Conducting, etc... to handle the other stuff.

I know people that have taken 'music theory' classes and they're more about how to read music and maybe a little ear training, arranging, etc.... Like if you're not in a hard core music program your theory class will probably cover a bunch of things where as a harmony class was focused on composing and understanding tunes - like we would have to write a song using MI, HI, etc... specific things or analyze a standard and know what would work where.

[phoenix 7]

Harmony is just one aspect of music explained by music theory. Theory also covers things like rhythm, melody, counterpoint and structure.

[weshunter]

It depends on the context in which they're being used. If the person is using it to describe the same thing, then they are interchangable.

if the person is using them to describe the same thing, then that person doesn't know what they're talking about

[Amp360]

Harmony is just one aspect of music explained by music theory. Theory also covers things like rhythm, melody, counterpoint and structure.

Technically if you really want to split hairs I would say counterpoint is 'harmony' as you're describing it. I mean, if you look at a piece written in counterpoint (thesis, argis, etc...) they have to be harmonically dependent or else it won't work.

[cruisemates]

Colin is right...

Theory is the all-encompassing science of musical chords and scales...

Harmony, especially in a modern sense, is pairing one melodic phrase with a secondary phrase of a similar rhythmic pattern to complement the first melodic phrase.

In a more colloquial sense you can refer to the overall key selection and melodic structure of a song as its basic "harmonic approach" - but that is not really the definition of the word "harmony". But I think that may be where the OP is confused.

[Amp360]

Actually, harmony would be about chord construction, chord progressions and how you go about using them to form compositions if you want to get technical.

[ShadowPlay]

Excellent info.

Sounds like while we may differ on what exactly constitutes harmony, perhaps the idea that it is under the "theory" umbrella kinda takes away the need to separate the two.