Harmony

                Scales are, when stripped to their essence, a collection of sounds that are related to each other in some way.  They’re essential to any musician’s repertoire, not because practicing scales can improve technique (it can!), but because they facilitate an understanding of the relationships between notes in a scale. Using these relationships, one can create chords, groups of sounds that create harmonies in music. Sometimes the harmonies created by a song’s chord progressions can make the song sound strange, sad, or upbeat. These sad harmonies could be described as “minor,” while the happier or more upbeat harmonies could be described as “major.”

Interestingly enough, a song can be both happy and sad – that is, parts are major, and other parts are minor. This two-sided existence is known as bitonality. “Chega de Saudade” displays bitonality simply because it begins with multitudes of harmonies based on minor chord progressions, and shifts to harmonies based on major chord progressions. This shift is noticeable; the song’s mood changes quickly from wistful to excited and almost hopeful (see seg. 6). This is a shift from a minor to its parallel major, instead of to its relative major (essentially shifting from D minor to D major, as opposed to shifting from D minor to F major). “Maple Leaf Rag,” too, has a key change, but not a mood change: it modulates up a perfect fourth, from A^­­­_{b ­}major to D_b major (see seg. 7). This makes “Maple Leaf Rag” bitonal just like “Chega,” since it features two different keys. The mood changes coming from an upward shift seem more subtle than a shift from a minor to a major; one could possibly feel the rising excitement or elation often associated with higher pitches.

One can link “Chega de Saudade” back to jazz and even to ragtime through its use of chord modifications like dominant sevenths, sixths, and flat nines. Using these modifications gives the song a bluesy feel that is common amongst jazz songs. “Maple Leaf Rag,” like most ragtime, makes extensive use of the dominant seventh chords and diminished chords. Ragtime was formerly a popular music style around the turn of the 20^th century, and its popularity was directly followed by the popularity of swing and jazz, which borrowed ragtime’s syncopation and use of chords like the dominant seventh. Since bossa nova has roots in jazz, it could be surmised that ragtime indirectly influenced the bossa nova genre.