Modern Harmony

Understanding Modern Harmony

Modern harmony breaks from traditional tonal harmony, exploring new ways of organizing and combining pitches. This includes techniques like quartal harmony, tone clusters, and polytonality.

Modern Chord Types

Quartal Harmony

Chords built on perfect fourths instead of thirds

𝄞C4F4B4
P4P4

Interactive Piano

Experiment with modern harmonies on the piano:

C4
C#4
D4
D#4
E4
F4
F#4
G4
G#4
A4
A#4
B4
C5
C#5
D5
D#5
E5
F5
F#5
G5
G#5
A5
A#5
B5
C6

Interactive Practice

Which type of modern harmony is built by stacking perfect fourths?

𝄞C4F4B4

What technique involves playing multiple different chords simultaneously?

𝄞C4E4G4D4F#4A4

Daily Practice

Explore modern harmony with these exercises:

  • Build and play quartal harmonies on different root notes
  • Experiment with creating tone clusters
  • Practice combining different chords to create polychords
  • Listen to and analyze modern compositions