Hi All, I will be going for G6 Theory next year. Have alot of difficulties in the portion of Harmonising. Any idea how i shld go about harmonising when i am given a piece?

PS: my teacher didnt teach me much, so i need to ask experts here.

Thanks so much.

What part don't you understand? Working out which chords to use?

I've just bought myself the 2nd part of the pink book (I think it's blue? I ordered it online...) and the workbook with the aim of taking G6 theory next year. One of my pupild asked me to teach it her, and after a long chat with the parents, we've decided to learn it together, me a term ahead! I'm a bit dubious, but they won't pay for a different (better) teacher. Apparently I'm a bargain

As to C@W's question, have you done G5 theory? How did you get on with cadences and appropriate chords etc.? It seems to be the next step along that road.

Hi All, its the filling in the chords for the bass. I have finished the part on cadences, the inversions etc, but i just dont know how to fill it in whenever i see the question.
For example : the steps are to identify the phrase, next the cadence in the beginning and at the end of phrase. Then what next? I dont know what to do next.

My usual plug : The ABC of Harmony book A is a good book of exercises to work through to familiarise oneself with chord progressions and harmonising melodies. It gives a good grounding to work on the first question (and help with the second and third questions) of grade 6 theory .

I have a question. For the harmonising melodies part of grade 6 theory do you just have to say a chord? Or do you have to write it out in 4 part harmony..

I shall recomend "Harmony in Practice" by Anna Butterworth (published by the ABRSM) - big orange book and very structured and readable - I used it for a number of written papers and it worked for me

I would think this is the kind of book to help with Grade VI and then a long way beyond, could be a good investment if you go on to do higher grades and other stuff later...

Amazon have it here...

The chord and inversion is enough.

Ok thanks

Hi Thanks. Maybe i'll try the Harmony in Practice. I have finished the ABC Harmony but i dont really know how to fit in when trying to do the piece. I am probably just slow, but thanks for all your help.

I`m as blurred as you for the grade 6 theory, chopin.

my question(sound silly) : If the key is Cmajor , and the melody shows a G note , does that mean we can harmonise it by using chord I or chord Vb or chord III ?

It depends where in the melody the G appears. If it is the very last note of the melody then I would use chord 1 as it is likely to be a perfect cadence. If it isn't the last note, then I might use V because it leads to a cadence..

ok that makes no sense but it just depends where in the melody that note appears

That does make sense (to me at least )

Oh good lol

And you wouldn't necessarily take the one note in isolation. Quite often half, or even a whole bar, can be harmonised using the same chord. Some of the notes may be treated as non harmony notes.

Hey, that also makes sense to me. But say its C major, and has note A, G, E, how do i know that for A, i have to use IVb or VIa or IIc? Then if i choose one of them, what do i choose for G?

Thanks