09/24/2014
I am often explaining to my students the importance in the difference of Melody versus Harmony. Melody is horizontal, the rise and fall of pitch that makes the song singable and catchy. The most important part of melody is the drive or the direction, where the melody is going in relation to where it came from. Harmony is vertical, its more than one voice simultaneous in time. Together the voices/pitches create a certain effect needed for that moment of the melody, within harmony there can be beauty, tension and resolution.
If life were a song the melody is what keeps us going, keeps us driving to where we need to go and Harmony is what gets us through each day with moments full of joy and wonder. Without a melody/journey in our life each moment of harmony is just a moment, we need to have a purpose and change(the rise and fall). But without Harmony along the way the journey/melody is far less enjoyable.
