What will the harmonic language of your next piece be?
Hopefully, your musical studies and experiences have given you fluency in multiple harmonic languages. Pentatonic; modal; tonal; functional jazz; modal jazz; atonal….the list goes on.As I begin to write a piece, I am thinking about the harmonic language, and how I can select a language that will enhance the emotional and musical message I am attempting to convey.
Sadly, formal Western musical education tends to focus far too exclusively on one type of harmonic language: tonal. The result is that young composers don’t even think about the harmonic language they’re choosing; they only really think in an 18th century tonal language. Learning to move beyond that can be one of the biggest steps forward for a composer.
Harmonic language is really only one aspect to think about as you begin to plot a piece; equally important (and even more underemphasized in formal musical education) is melodic language. We also can and should think about instrumentation, form, and many other musical aspects of our piece–before we ever write a note!