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6.1.2
A Harmonic Progression (Chord Progression) Fails without a Melodic Progression
Paradoxically, a harmonic progression (a chord progression) without a melody does not work. When you play a melody comprised of the notes that make up a chord, such as C – E – G – E – C, your brain recognizes the underlying chord because the sequence goes by quickly. But when you play all the notes of a chord simultaneously, your brain hears a single unified sound—not the individual notes that comprise the chord.
You can recognize a tune—a succession of notes—as a piece of music all by itself. No harmony whatsoever. A national anthem, or “Happy Birthday,” or a bugle call, for instance.
And yet, a harmonic progression—a succession of chords without a tune—does not sound like “complete” music at all. The music sounds like the Jimi Hendrix Experience playing without Jimi.
Unlike harmony-free melody, melody-free harmony does not stand on its own.
If you were to play the chords to “The Star Spangled Banner” without playing or singing the succession of pitches that forms the tune, no one would recognize it as one of the world’s most widely-known songs.
On the other hand, a lone, completely unaccompanied tune is like a movie storyboard—a sequence of sketches, much like the sequence of panels forming a comic strip. The storyboard outlines the shot-by-shot sequence of a scene—the essentials of the “story” for that scene. You can discern what the story is from the storyboard, but it lacks color, depth, and liveliness.