Aural Comprehension Guide

David Loberg Code          Western Michigan University


Performing Harmony

In the beginning, harmonic sightsinging will consist of the ability to sing intervals. Experiment with different ways of learning intervals. Identify the opening intervals of familiar songs and pieces as a reference. Use the degrees of the scale or solfege syllables to aid you. Intervallic singing will be followed by arpeggiation of triads and other chords in isolation and, eventually, in the context of harmonic progressions. You will be expected to sing the bass lines (in tempo) of harmonic progressions notated in Roman numerals, and to arpeggiate (not necessarily in tempo) each chord in a relatively straightforward progression. You will learn the solfege syllables associated with each diatonic and altered chord, and the sound of various inversions and typical progressions. This activity will help not only your harmonic dictation, but melodic dictation and sightsinging as well, because you will be able to better recognize these patterns.


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David Loberg Code, School of Music, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, 49008. E-mail: code@wmich.edu
 
 
http://www.wmich.edu/mus-theo/etg/har.html 
Revised: 28.Feb.99       (c) 1999
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