The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #167076   Message #4025780
Posted By: Stanron
01-Jan-20 - 02:40 PM
Thread Name: Byrds harmonies
Subject: RE: Byrds harmonies
Here's the abc file;

X:1
T:Chimes Of Freedom
T:Byrds First Chorus
C:Bob Dylan
K:G
M:4/4
L:1/8
V:1 name="Harmony " clef =treble middle=B
V:2 name="Melody" clef =treble middle=B
[V:1]"D7" dd3d2d2 | ddd4d2 |"G" g2g2g2g2 | g8 |
w:flash-ing for the war-i-or who's strength is not to fight
[V:2] AA3A2B2 | ccc4c2| B2B2B2c2 | d8 |
%
[V:1]"C" g2g2g2g2 | "G"gg3g2eg | "Am"e2d2d2 B2 | "D7"d6gg|
w:flash-ing for the ref-u-gees on the un-armed road of flight and for
[V:2] e2e2e2e2 | ed3d2BB | B2A2A2B2 | A6dd|
%
[V:1] "G"g2g2g2g2 | "C"gg3g4 | "G"g2g2g2e2 |"C" e6dd |
w:each and ev-ry un-der dog sol-dier in the night and we
[V:2] d2d2d2d2 | dd3d4 |d2d2d2B2 | c6BB |
%
[V:1]"G"d2d2d2d2 |"C" g2e2"D7"c2c2 |"G" cB3-B4 |z8 |]
w:gazed up-on the chimes of free-dom flash-ing.
[V:2]B2B2B2G2 | c2B2A2A2 | AG3-G4 |z8 |]

If anyone wants it I also have it as a musescore file, .mscz, and as a .pdf file as well. I could do it as a Lillypond file but it would probably take some time to remember how to do that.

This displays OK at

http://www.mandolintab.net/abcconverter.php

copy and paste into the window and press 'submit'.

So what is happening in these harmonies?

The first two bars are on the chord D7. The melody starts on A, passes through B to C, which is the note that makes a D chord into D7.For the whole of these two bars the harmony is on the D above the melody. The interval between A and the higher D is a 4th. Between the B and the higher D the interval is a third but this is just a single passing note. The second bar is melody of C with the harmony D above it. This interval is a second, normally found to be dissonant, in the D7 context it works.

In bars three and four the chord becomes G, the key or root chord. The melody goes from three Bs through a C to a sustained D. The harmony goes right up to the high G and stays there. The interval between B and the higher G is a 6th. The interval between the C passing note and the higher G is a fourth but it is for one note only and then there is a 4th interval again between the melody D and the harmony high G.

That change between D7, the subdominant or chord five of the key of G, and the chord G itself, the tonic or chord one, is called the 'perfect cadence'. It sound like coming home. When he hits that high G he really nails that home feeling and also that's a note that is higher than the average untrained male voice can reach. Why would you not sing that if you could?

Although this may seem simpler than parallel 3rd harmonies in my opinion it is more sophisticated. It follows the chord structure rather than the melody, except it aligns with the melody in it's rhythm.

The rest of the chorus follows pretty much the same pattern with a resolved sus 4 at the end.

Happy new year.