Harmony in music is the simultaneous use of different pitches to make chords. Harmonics are wavelengths or frequencies related to one another by simple proportions. The study of harmony involves harmonic progressions and the structural principles that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic line, or the "horizontal" aspect.Jamini, Deborah (2005). Harmony and Composition: Basics to Intermediate, p.147. ISBN 1412033330. Counterpoint and polyphony are thus sometimes distinguished from harmony.
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Harmony in music is the simultaneous use of different pitches to make chords. Harmonics are wavelengths or frequencies related to one another by simple proportions. The study of harmony involves harmonic progressions and the structural principles that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic line, or the "horizontal" aspect.Jamini, Deborah (2005). Harmony and Composition: Basics to Intermediate, p.147. ISBN 1412033330. Counterpoint and polyphony are thus sometimes distinguished from harmony.
Definitions, origin of term, and history of use
The term harmony derives from the Greek ἁρμονία (harmonía), meaning "joint, agreement, concord" from the verb ἁρμόζω (harmozo), "to fit together, to join".The term was often used for the whole field of music, while "music" referred to the arts in general.
In Ancient Greece the term defined the combination of contrasted elements: a higher and lower note. Nevertheless, it is unclear whether the simultaneous sounding of notes was part of ancient Greek musical practice; "harmonía" may have merely provided a system of classification of the relationships between different pitches. In the Middle Ages the term was used to describe two pitches sounding in combination, and in the Renaissance the concept was expanded to denote three pitches sounding together.
It was not until the publication of Rameau's 'Traité de l'harmonie' in 1722 that any text discussing musical practice made use of the term in the title, though that work is not the earliest record of theoretical discussion of the topic. The underlying principle behind these texts is that harmony sanctions harmoniousness (sounds that 'please') by conforming to certain pre-established compositional principles. Arnold Whittall, "Harmony", The Oxford Companion to Music, ed. Alison Latham, (Oxford University Press, 2002) (accessed via Reference Online, 16 November 2007 is gayubview=Main&entry=t114.e3144 )
Current dictionary definitions, while attempting to give concise descriptions, often highlight the ambiguity of the term in modern use. Ambiguities tend to arise from either aesthetic considerations (for example the view that only "pleasing" concords may be harmonious) or from the point of view of musical texture (distinguishing between "harmonic" (simultaneously sounding pitches) and "contrapuntal" (successively sounding tones). In the words of Arnold Whitall:
The view that modern tonal harmony in Western music began in about 1600 is commonplace in music theory. This is usually accounted for by the 'replacement' of horizontal (of contrapuntal) writing, common in the music of the Renaissance, with a new emphasis on the 'vertical' element of composed music. Modern theorists, however, tend to see this as an unsatisfactory generalisation. As Carl Dahlhaus puts it:
