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Glite Dictionary
harmonic progression

harmonic progression

9.3
A sequence of numbers where 1 divided by each number increases by the same amount
  • noun
  • /hɑːrˈmɒnɪk prəˈɡrɛʃən/
  • Specialized
translation icon : progresión armónica
  • Ear training includes simple harmonic progression identification as well as interval and chord inversions.
  • understand harmonic progressions
  • melodic and harmonic progressions
  • understanding of harmonic progression

Examples

  • In music theory class, we studied how a harmonic progression can create emotional tension and resolution in a song.

  • Use standardized patterns, such as the twelve-bar blues, to introduce and develop an intuitive understanding of harmonic progression.

    Academic text (2006)

  • Another suggestion is to provide a simple bass line and harmonic progression against which students write a melody.

    Academic text (2001)

  • In addition to learning the melody, students should learn the bass line and the harmonic progression for these tunes by ear.

    Academic text (1999)

  • The following are suggested activities to introduce and reinforce hearing harmonic progressions:

    Academic text (2006)

  • Help students learn to understand harmonic progressions by singing and playing bass lines and harmony parts to familiar tunes.

    Academic text (1999)

  • Many songs and dances of the Renaissance often use the same musical forms and melodic and harmonic progressions as contemporary rock songs.

    Academic text (1996)

  • Furthermore, you can encourage students to try writing melodies within given harmonic progressions, since this is also a common compositional process.

    Academic text (2003)

  • Understanding a harmonic progression is essential for composing music, as it outlines the relationships between different chords.

  • The song's harmonic progression follows a classic I-IV-V pattern that is common in many genres.

Surface Forms

harmonic progression singular
harmonic progressions plural

Morphology

harmonic + progression

The noun is transparently built from 'harmonic' (relating to harmonics/harmony) + 'progression' (an ordered sequence), so a B1 learner could reasonably infer it denotes some kind of sequence characterized by a harmonic property. However, the exact technical/math meaning (reciprocals forming an arithmetic progression) or the domain-specific sense in music cannot be derived from the constituents alone and requires subject knowledge, making the expression only partially predictable.

Etymology

Harmonic progression comes from music: when a string gives higher notes, the reciprocals, which are the numbers you get by dividing 1 by each value, fall into even steps. So a harmonic progression is a list of numbers whose reciprocals make an 'arithmetic progression' or equal steps, and that is why the name connects the math idea to musical harmonics.