The Craft of Contemporary Commercial Music

Chapter 3

Introduction to Harmony

A hallmark of Western music is its focus on harmony, which results when multiple pitches sound together. Though there are many types of harmonies (or “chords,” though these terms are not always used interchangeably), the most common in Western music are tertian harmonies—that is, harmonies that are based on the interval of a third. Third intervals are slightly larger than half and whole steps, as they span three letters of the musical alphabet instead of two. For example, a common harmony that you have probably heard of is called a C major chord, which is spelled C—E—G. This chord is considered a tertian harmony, as it is a stack of third intervals above C: E is a third above C, as three letters are spanned (E—(D)—C), ...