This month we will be building upon the subjects of the last three articles: 6th and 7th Chords, Form and Structure, and Roman Numerals and the Circle of Fifths. Diatonic Harmony is based around the chords that fall within the key. The opposite of Diatonic Harmony is Chromatic Harmony, that is when you use notes within a chord that aren’t in the key and don’t appear within the scale. This happens quite often in all musical styles. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, we’ll deal with that later. This month is all about Diatonic Harmony. I advise taking this month’s subject of Diatonic Harmony, and relating it back to the previous three articles in this series. Each article (or subject) is part of a much bigger picture. Connecting the subjects, and finding where those subjects intersect, will help in your overall understanding of the language of music.  

June 2024 Issue