Workshop 79 mini-test

1. What is harmonic density?

2. Why can over-harmonizing a melody weaken it?

3. What is the “information ladder” introduced here?

4. Why should accompaniment account for harmonic information already present in the melody?

5. What is the difference between harmonic density and harmonic rhythm?

6. Why can fast harmony often benefit from sparse voicings?

7. What does “minimum viable harmony” mean?

8. Why can dense dominant→sparse tonic produce a strong cadence?

9. Why does harmonic scarcity create emphasis?

10. What is the deepest lesson of Workshop 79?

Answers

1. The amount of simultaneous and/or closely packed harmonic information presented at a given musical moment—number of voices, extensions, doublings, and chordal layers.
2. Every chord introduces additional meaning and attention. If every passing note receives a rich reinterpretation, the ear may focus on harmonic activity instead of the melody's phrase and identity.
3. A continuum from melody alone → pedal → bass → guide tone → shell → full voicing → colored voicing → reharmonized/blocked texture, reminding us that only as much harmonic information as necessary should be supplied.
4. Melody is part of the vertical sonority. If it already supplies the 3rd, 7th, 9th, 13th, etc., doubling that information may be redundant and can crowd the voicing.
5. Harmonic density concerns how much vertical information is present; harmonic rhythm concerns how often the underlying harmony/function changes. A progression can be fast and sparse or slow and dense.
6. The rapid progression already communicates substantial information; thick voicings at every change can obscure voice leading, groove, and melodic continuity.
7. The smallest collection of supporting notes that still communicates the intended harmonic identity, function, color, and phrase direction in the current context.
8. The dominant contains high acoustic/harmonic tension; abruptly reducing the number of notes at tonic creates a simultaneous harmonic and textural release, allowing the listener to infer the resolution.
9. If rich harmony appears rarely, its arrival becomes perceptually important. Constant maximal color makes no individual color exceptional.
10. Advanced harmonic skill is not demonstrated by how much harmony you can put under a melody, but by knowing exactly when the melody needs support and how little support may be enough.

The central lesson of Workshop 79 is:

Do not use harmony to prove that you understand the melody. Use just enough harmony to make the listener understand why the melody matters.