Harmonizing a melody

[charlieparker]

I was sort of jamming with this piano player and he would take a melody and a key and then harmonize it on the fly without knowing the associated changes.

I usually think of things the other way around, melody on top of a set of changes, but he made me question that way of thinking.

Of course, such an approach probably doesn't work well for ensemble playing. Has anyone found it fruitful to spend time coming up with your changes for a melody? After a while does it become second nature?

[Mick-7]

I was sort of jamming with this piano player and he would take a melody and a key and then harmonize it on the fly without knowing the associated changes.

I usually think of things the other way around, melody on top of a set of changes, but he made me question that way of thinking.

Of course, such an approach probably doesn't work well for ensemble playing. Has anyone found it fruitful to spend time coming up with your changes for a melody? After a while does it become second nature?

It boils down to recognizing the primary chord types: major, minor, dominant (diminished) and altered. You can go a long way by harmonizing melodies with just triads: major, minor, diminished and augmented. I consider it an essential aspect of ear training.

[joe2758]

My answer depends if you are harmonizing the melody of a tune, or making a composition by creating a melody first

[charlieparker]

My answer depends if you are harmonizing the melody of a tune, or making a composition by creating a melody first

More the former.

[Mick-7]

My answer depends if you are harmonizing the melody of a tune, or making a composition by creating a melody first

More the former.

I don't see why it should matter, "what sort of harmony best complements this melody?" is the question I ask myself. That's often not clear though, you may have to experiment to find out.

[joe2758]

More the former.

Thinking of solo guitar here which is all I do, the only time I could see that being fruitful is

1. You can play a simple melody that you can sing, but have never played before on the fly easily.
2. You are in a situation where someone would request of you to play a tune like the above.

Because otherwise you can evaluate the standard changes and make subs from there. Reason being if you are are basing your harmony on what basically works, you will alter the character of the melody. For instance, a person is playing Stella and they can sing it but have never actually played it (I know, unlikely) and they see that second note and if someone were just guessing how to harmonize it they might play Bbmaj 7 or F7 which would completely change the character. If I requested Stella and someone played that, I would throw a stewed tomato at them.

[pawlowski6132]

I was sort of jamming with this piano player and he would take a melody and a key and then harmonize it on the fly without knowing the associated changes.

I usually think of things the other way around, melody on top of a set of changes, but he made me question that way of thinking.

Of course, such an approach probably doesn't work well for ensemble playing. Has anyone found it fruitful to spend time coming up with your changes for a melody? After a while does it become second nature?

Sounds like you're just talking about reharmonizing the melody of a song.

It's pretty formulaic if you understand functional harmony.

[rpjazzguitar]

I was taught that Chuck Wayne would work out a chord for every note of the melody and then try to improvise on those changes. I'd guess that it's often more a goal than a reality, depending on the density of the melody. I think that's worth doing.

[ragman1]

It's mostly ear, taste and experience. After a while you can hear what the harmony should be. But, more importantly, you can also hear what the harmony could be and make the substitutions.

Obviously that wouldn't work for ensembles unless you had it all worked out beforehand. Or you were so good you could virtually prophesize what was going to happen and make adjustments on the fly. There are certainly players like that.

[pauln]

...without knowing the associated changes.

He knows associated changes that go with melody, extant or novel.
Extant harmony may be modified with additional notes, different root chords, changing modes, inserting progression changes, modulating, borrowed chords, etc.
Typically reharmonization suggests modifications that make manifest functional departure from extant harmony.

[Bob_Ross]

Has anyone found it fruitful to spend time coming up with your changes for a melody? After a while does it become second nature?

Yes, and no, in that order.

I can come up with simple diatonic harmonies for a melody on the fly...but that rarely covers anything with slightly-more-than-remedial harmony. Great for American folks songs, not so great for any jazz less than 80 or 90 years old.

Spending time coming up with ways to harmonize a melody is where a lot of the fun in composing is for me.