Lush Harmonies and Voicings?

What are some ways of harmonising a melody/theme in the strings to achieve that beautiful, lush Rimsky-Korsakov type sounds?

The theme is below:

theme1.MUS

Thanks to all those who help!

I can't give you the answer, since I'm just a newbie, but you could have a look here: Principles of Orchestration On-line - northernsounds.com It's the interactive version of Priciples of Orchestration by Rimsky Korsakov, developed by Gary Garritan. If you can give some info about a particular passage of a song, it will help too, I think.

I'd love to give a hand, but am unable to open Finale 07 files, if you post a screen shot of the melody I should be able to help more.

For 'lush' sounds I would recommend using five part harmony - all of the string parts playing differnet lines -, lots of suspensions, and non dominant seventh and ninth chords.

How does that work for you?

Not a very good theme but If nothing else it can be the test dummy for a better one :-)

Chris :-)

How does that work for you? *

Not a very good theme but If nothing else it can be the test dummy for a better one :-)

Chris :-)

*What do you mean?

It's quite nice, I like it, and it'll certainly allow you to play with lots of mixing modes, which is always fun :)

Why not try harmonising it, using a few 7th/9th chords and some secondary dominants if you like, then I'll have a look and try and give some suggestions?

I reckon it should prepare for a modulation toward the last bar. It looks like it ends on the tonality it began.

*What do you mean?

haha, I originally tried to post it in a word doc but then I changed it to a image file. Forgot to delete that :-)

I tried and failed miserably lol

I can get the sound I want (ie. lush) but I don't know how to harmonise chromatic style music and am having next to no luck as a result. lol

Anyone want to give me a crash course in chromatic harmonising?

Anyone want to give me a crash course in chromatic harmonising?

Unfortunately there's no such thing. You can learn all the approaches and resolutions of the secondary and chromatic* 7ths, 9ths & 13ths from a book, as you can the modulation possibilities of the Neapolitan 6th. And how to use diminished chords cadentially or as pivots in modulations, and the augmented 6th chords. No problem there.

*chords based on roots/triads that don't appear naturally in the key. Minor keys make things more complicated :(

But as for applying these in harmony, adding in a few accented passing notes, resolving one discord onto another discord, learning where the harmony should be far simpler for clarity and effect.....This is down to musical taste more than theoretical stuff. Takes a little time - not too long if you start in a fairly simple way.

The best way is to find some composer whose harmony you like then study it - analyse it or, if an orchestral score, make a 2-hand transcription so you can see what's going on. Try and fit it into your knowledge of theory so you can replicate it in other situations. You don't have to get the nomenclature exact as long as you can work out what the guy is doing. Then...experiment!

Okay, well I have succesfully harmonised a variation of that theme to my satisfaction. I'll post a jpeg later.

In the mean time: Can anyone tell me what sort of harmony/chords stravinsky uses for the big tutti at the end of the Firebird Suite...

The big brass section with the theme played rythmically with a crotchet for each note.

Can't explain it much better... If you listen you'll know what I mean.

Chris :-)