I've worked out the melody line for Happy Birthday, and I've done it in E Major starting on the tonic - is this a suitable key? G Major sounds a bit high (and I don't like F Major).

Now for the harmony - I'm pre-G1 piano so I'd be grateful if somebody could suggest some simple 2 or 3 note chords to use please?

Many thanks!

You can play it in any key you like, no reason why you can't do it in E major. When you say "starting on the tonic" do you mean the melody starts on the tonic note, or the first chord is the tonic chord? It would be usual to start with a tonic chord, but the first note of the melody is the dominant, not the tonic (so in E major the first note would be B). If you're playing the melody starting on E, you're playing it in A major.

Basic harmony in E: E | B | B | E | E | A | E/B B| E

| = barline
E/B = E with B in the bass (ie 2nd inversion)

You can make any of the B chords B7s if you want, as well. Also a first inversion tonic chord in bar 5 might be nice. There are loads of possibilities ...

This is interesting, and it's not something I'd realised, I'm afraid. I've got G5 theory but harmonised composition doesn't come into G5, and the only compositions of my own that I've done have been single line melody for me to play on my clarinet. And being beginner on piano, I'd just picked out the melody line starting on E, and thought the key would be E major

So I see what you're saying, thanks, and yes, I'd wanted the melody to start on E so the key should be A Major. That makes much more sense as when I had the key as E Major, I'd had to naturalise the D

So my first chord should be the tonic chord of A Major And then I would go to the dominant chord, then back to the tonic chord, then sub-dominant chord, and maybe play around with some first or second inversions? Is that right? (and if so, I think I understand what to do)

If you're playing the melody starting on E, you're playing it in A major.

Yes - this was my first thought on reading your original post. And yes, you would have been playing D natural...

Yes, I think you've got it - your chords sound fine - I like a first inversion in bar 5 too! as Andy suggested.

Good luck .

Thanks both of you - I'll go and try it out now

Hey skylark,

How did you get on with Happy Birthday? The most useful tune you will ever harmonise...

Did you notice, that the first 'Happy' - being an anacrusis - is un harmonised? So, in AndyL's excellent harmonisation, the first tonic chord ('E' in E major) harmonises the '...Birthday to...' bit.

Good luck,

denmark

I wrote it out in A Major and each bar sounded lovely, but joining the bars up smoothly was a bit of problem. So I re-wrote it into C Major - I don't like it as much but at least I can make it sound like Happy Birthday now



I thought that must be the case - thanks for confirming it

Well done Skylark

ET

Scandalously, Time Warner are still claiming copyright on Happy Birthday to the tune of $2m per year, so don't forget to pay the royalties due.

I thought the title and words were legitimately in copyright, but there is a dodgy claim on the tune. It was originally part of the song "Good morning to you", by Patty (d. 1946) and Mildred Hill (d. 1916). It is believed that Patty wrote the original words and Mildred the tune, so presumably Time Warner are claiming that they wrote the tune jointly, in which case their bonanza will be modified (they will still have the new words) on 1 January 2017. Is the TW claim on the tune accepted outside the US?

I don't think I'll be playing it in public any time soon

Can I ask for a bit more help please...

I showed my teacher yesterday what I'd drafted out, and fortunately I'd interpreted all the advice here correctly - thanks all!

I'm wondering now whether/where I should put pedalling. All of it except the "Hap-py" notes?

I think that one pedal a bar can work.
Give it a try and see how it sounds to you.

OK, will try that this evening, thanks