Quick help needed for student

Hello there! I'm new here, & am in need of some advice. I'm studying for a degree in popular music & my score writing skills are very basic. I have to do a project at the moment on gunctional harmony & have been given a series of short 4 or 5 bar sequences to harmonize in 4 part voices (SATB) - it's part of some modules I have to take from the classical school. I did grade 5 theory a while ago so I have a working knowledge of the staves etc, and the pieces I have to do are not complicated (or so they tell me!!).

I have got most of it, but there's this one bar that's giving me a problem ... the piece is 8 bars long, and I believe it to be in G major (as it has F# as key signature). But there's a D# at the start of bar 7, followed by C,B,A descending. We have been told that for these exercises there should be no real need for us to harmonize with anything other that I IV V chords, so I am confused as to how the D# can be harmonized or which chord to use?? My brain is telling me that the D# is an accidental ... I'm confused!! My brain is also telling me that as the rest of the bar contains C,B,A, the most logical chord for harmonising that bar is V.

I hope I have explained the issue well enough. I tried doing a search but the results did not really reflect my question, so apologies in advnace if this is the kinf of thing that has been answered before - in fact if anyone can point me towards a tutorial or other posts then that would be great.

Thanks alot.

Without actually seeing what you have and not knowing you are doing it correct, i'm going to have to say you did it wrong. I would say this piece is in e harmonic minor for that piece. Perhaps you didn't modulate earlier. Who knows. e harmonic minor would make perfect sense if the chord is a V. B D F#=b minor B D# F#-B major

Thanks for that quick reply! OK, you could be entirely right. Like I said, I'm a total novice at this. How can I tell for sure what the real key signature is? There is one # in the key signature (F#), the piece starts on a G (top of the treble clef), bar 1 contains G F E D descending, the only other thing is the D# in the 7th bar.

Sorry if these are all very confusing questions - but as I'm sure you can see there are "gaps in my knowledge"!!

Well, Like I said, without actually seeing what is there, i'm trying to imagine it in my head. Please give all the information you can. Time sign note duration. If you can scan the score. Anything will be helpful!

I still say the piece started in G major but then modulated to e harmonic minor. I would recheck my voicing and make sure they are all logical. Try to find if something could be seen as i instead of iii. Hell, it could be a V/iii

Thanks very much for your help. I don't have access to a scanner right now, but I'll try to do that asap. I understand what you are saying (I think). I would be suprised if the piece modulates - at least they told us that the exercises we would do at this stage would be simple & not involve anything more complex than functional harmony using I, IV, V chords.

The piece goes like this ... (8 bars, 4/4 time sig, F# in key sig)

bar 1 - dotted crochet G, quaver F, crochet E, crochet D (descending from G top space on treble clef)

bar 2 - dotted crochet C, quaver D, crochet E, crochet G (ascending from C 3rd space in treble clef)

bar 3 - dotted crochet F, quaver E, crochet D, crochet C (descending from F top line treble clef)

bar 4 - semibreve B (middle line treble clef)

bar 5 - dotted crochet E, quaver D, crochet C, crochet B (descending from E last space treble clef)

bar 6 - crochet A, crochet B, crochet C, crochet E (ascending from A 2nd space treble clef)

bar 7 - dotted crochet D#, quaver C, crochet C, crochet B, crochet A (descending from D 4th line up treble clef)

bar 8 - semibreve G (2nd line up treble clef)

I hope that makes sense. It's the D# in bar 7 that is causing me grief. #

Thanks.

Yeah, it modulates in the final bar to the V of VI. In otherwords, that D# is part of a pivot chord which takes the iii of G Major, turns it into III#, then modulates that III# to a V, but it's not the V of I, it's the V of VI, which becomes the new I. Sorry, that's confusing. The final bar should look something like this:

V-------->I - that arrow is necessary because it shows the applied harmony.

Thanks, but sorry, you've lost me there. If that is the case I will need to consult with my tutor as they did tell us that the exercises would all be simple use of I, IV & V - there was no mention of modulation at all as it is not something I have any experience of notating.

Thanks very much for your help. I don't have access to a scanner right now, but I'll try to do that asap. I understand what you are saying (I think). I would be suprised if the piece modulates - at least they told us that the exercises we would do at this stage would be simple & not involve anything more complex than functional harmony using I, IV, V chords.

The piece goes like this ... (8 bars, 4/4 time sig, F# in key sig)

bar 1 - dotted crochet G, quaver F, crochet E, crochet D (descending from G top space on treble clef)

bar 2 - dotted crochet C, quaver D, crochet E, crochet G (ascending from C 3rd space in treble clef)

bar 3 - dotted crochet F, quaver E, crochet D, crochet C (descending from F top line treble clef)

bar 4 - semibreve B (middle line treble clef)

bar 5 - dotted crochet E, quaver D, crochet C, crochet B (descending from E last space treble clef)

bar 6 - crochet A, crochet B, crochet C, crochet E (ascending from A 2nd space treble clef)

bar 7 - dotted crochet D#, quaver C, crochet C, crochet B, crochet A (descending from D 4th line up treble clef)

bar 8 - semibreve G (2nd line up treble clef)

I hope that makes sense. It's the D# in bar 7 that is causing me grief. #

Thanks.

This is a famous melody. I'm not sure that in the spirit of the assignmnent that I should tell you what it is, but I'll give you a hint: your mom or grandma might know. You incorrectly gave us bar 7. It should be:

bar 7 - dotted crochet D#, quaver C, crochet B, crochet A (descending from D 4th line up treble clef)

You had too many Cs (and beats).

Needless to say, the real tune is in E minor. and the D# becomes the leading tone in a chord that takes you back to the I chord (an Eminor) at bar 8. ..and the C natural is the note that should be causing you all the grief, but don't worry about it. It's a quickly passing tension. I could give you more hints, but I think the teacher wants you to come up with your own harmonizations.

Good luck.

In reading some responses and yours, it occurs to me that harmonizing this with just I IV and V chords is a pretty silly excersize that will force some rather unmusical moments. As you have astutely noticed, this melody requires more than that.