snohomish Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 I am grateful for the free access to the melodies of composers as O'Carolan as well as traditional/folk songs on the web but it's taking me forever to figure the harmonies. Sheet music in treble stave with 'the extra notes' for harmony would accelerate my playing ability and satisfaction. The single melody lines are nice but harmony gives depth. Any clues? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary B Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 The Paul Hardy Session tune book has chords (letters) written above the melody line of the tunes. You could then write in one or two of the notes belonging to the chord below the melody notes to give the harmony you want. The tune book can be found on Paul Hardy's website and downloaded for free. It has more than 300 tunes with several O'Carolan ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Adey Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 I am grateful for the free access to the melodies of composers as O'Carolan as well as traditional/folk songs on the web but it's taking me forever to figure the harmonies. Sheet music in treble stave with 'the extra notes' for harmony would accelerate my playing ability and satisfaction. The single melody lines are nice but harmony gives depth. Any clues? Thanks What system concertina are you playing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael sam wild Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 The book by O'Sullivan , of all the Carolan tunes, only has top lines. The best source is chord arrangements worked out by guitarists. I have tow friends in Sheffield Mike Lydiat and Keth Hinchliffe who specialise in his tunes and have eworked out accompaniments. Also harp players often show the chords. Google Doc's Workshop for Mike Lydiat's tunes he has covered the whole tunebook in a long term project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul_Hardy Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 The Paul Hardy Session tune book has chords (letters) written above the melody line of the tunes. You could then write in one or two of the notes belonging to the chord below the melody notes to give the harmony you want. The tune book can be found on Paul Hardy's website and downloaded for free. It has more than 300 tunes with several O'Carolan ones. Thank you for the plug! The Session Tunebook, (and the Annex Tunebook which has some more tunes on their way into a future version, etc.) can be found at http://www.pghardy.n...tina/tunebooks/. You can download them for free, or order a printed and bound copy of Paul Hardy's Session Tunebook. You can also download the ABC file, and play it with one of the free ABC tools (I use ABCExplorer, or EasyABC), so that you can listen to the melody with chordal accompanyment and play alongside it to try things out. I agree that the chords could be a useful starting point for harmonising, They are usually OK, but there are still a few tunes which had computer generated chords added early on as I had no other source, and which I haven't got back to reviewing and tweaking. Any sugestions for better chords for any tune are welcomed! One of my few regrets in life is that when as a teenager I took the 'O-level' exam in Music, that I skipped the harmony paper by electing instead to get Grade V on an instrument (cello). With some targeted practice, I got the grade certificate. but was never really up to the standard, and soon gave up cello as an impracticable instrument! With hindsight, taking a course in harmony at that age would have been a useful life-skill! Does anyone have any recommendations of learning resources for harmony with which I could try and catch up at this later stage in life? Regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jggunn Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 In the teaching and learning forum, I have once again been probing the mysteries of harmony and using chords and counter melodies. I guess it is very difficult to give instruction on how to do this. Someone such as Randy Stein is a master at it and follows Matusewich and other classical players. I still do not have a handle on it, but, as I have mentioned a couple of times in these forums, I have found that music arranged for the mandolin works quite well as far as indicating how to integrate harmonies on the English. For example, Mel Bay's Mandolin Anthology which includes a wide range of music from classical to blue-grass. But this is still not the same as running a harmony line of chords below the melody. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Chapin Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 For boning up on Harmony, I recommend http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Materials-Music-Theory-Programed/dp/0205633935/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322138046&sr=8-1 It starts right at the beginning and gets as complex as you want. Move along at your own pace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael sam wild Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 On another thread Transcribe was mentioned as a useful tool to analyse chords from mp3 files of tunes. I have tried it and it is helpful but not a simple breakdown as it picks up all pitches and then makes a 'best guess' but it's interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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