Harmony Core

The harmony core curriculum provides an essential foundation for every Berklee student. Housed within the core music curriculum, the courses that comprise our curriculum are at the very heart of the Berklee experience and are the result of a realization that was revolutionary when Berklee was founded: that theory can be understood and taught by examining and analyzing contemporary popular music.

Our commitment to giving students the tools to understand and create their music is as strong as ever. The radical increase in stylistic diversity since the 1950s gives us an ever-broader field to survey, but the Berklee harmony program provides the skills you will need to navigate a changing environment. Through the program, you will gain a thorough understanding of common harmonic practice, melodic development, and the relationship between melody and harmony in contemporary styles.

Placement

Before your first semester at Berklee, you are required to take the Entering Student Placement Exam (ESPA). This will help us to determine which harmony and arranging courses to place you.

Projects

In addition to weekly assignments, you will write and record at least one project a semester. The project can be recorded in collaboration with fellow students or at a MIDI workstation.

Visit the below pages to learn more:

Program Details

Full Description

The harmony core, in combination with arranging, ear training, conducting, tonal harmony and counterpoint, and music technology courses, will provide you with a broad-based musical vocabulary, important skills for your major studies, and a well-rounded musical background. Every entering student is placed into harmony courses based on the proficiencies, skills, and knowledge demonstrated on the harmony section of the Entering Student Proficiency Assessment.

For more harmony information, also see the Glossary of Terms Used and Recommended Reading List.

The Harmony and Jazz Composition Department also offers a minor and several elective courses. See a full list of department course offerings.

What Will I Learn?

Upon completion of this program, students will:

Develop literacy in the fundamentals of contemporary music theory (note identification, intervals, chord spelling to the 13th, scale construction including (diatonic scales, modes, non-diatonic scales);
Recognize the basic chord progressions of contemporary popular music (major diatonic with chromatic embellishments, minor diatonic with chromatic embellishments, modal with chromatic embellishments) in written form;
Analyze the chord progressions of popular songs in a variety of styles by employing Roman numeral and graphical analysis;
Express harmonic functions as chord scales and notate them correctly;
Reduce a written musical arrangement to a lead sheet using standard chord symbols;
Realize harmony represented by standard chord symbols in written form through a variety of voice leading techniques (i.e. 4-way close, guide tone lines, spread voicings, hybrids, etc.);
Analyze the harmonic implications of a given melody;
Harmonize a given melody in a variety of popular styles; and
Compose an original melody and accompanying chord progressions in a variety of popular styles.

Entrance Requirements

All students are required to take harmony courses, but entering students are placed into one of the four harmony courses based on the proficiencies, skills, and knowledge they demonstrate on the Entering Student Proficiency Assessment (ESPA).

You may earn advance placement beyond the first course—PW-111 Music Theory and Application—by achieving a satisfactory score on the Harmony and Arranging portions of the ESPA.

Curriculum and Courses

Every student must complete at least one harmony course and complete the curriculum through Harmony 4.

PW-111 Music Application and Theory
HR-112 Harmony 2
HR-211 Harmony 3
HR-212 Harmony 4

First-semester students with advanced placement through the ESPA are given credit for the preceding level(s) once they have successfully completed the level in which they are first enrolled. For example, a student with advanced placement in HR-112 Harmony 2 is given credit for that course and PW-111 Music Application and Theory upon successful completion of HR-112 Harmony 2.

Besides the required four semesters of basic harmony, the department offers electives for those interested in furthering their studies:

HR-325 Reharmonization Techniques
HR-261 The Music of the Beatles
HR-351 The Solo Careers of the Beatles
HR-335 Advanced Harmonic Concepts
HR-345 Advanced Modal Harmony
HR-241 Harmony in Brazilian Song
MLAN-251 The Blues: Analysis and Application
HR-355 The Music of the Yellowjackets
HR-361 World Music Elements for the Contemporary Musician
PW-165 The Creative Flame