This page presents my thoughts on harmony for Bulgarian instrumentalists, particularly accordionists.
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Bulgarian harmony is a complex topic, and a difficult one to discuss in a way that is both accurate and helpful. Kirilov (2007) is the only published work I'm aware of in English. While his analysis and synthesis are brilliant, the work is dense and difficult for anyone but the most theoretically inclined. More significantly, his primary focus is on "Wedding music" of the 1970s & 80s. The harmony used in that style is significantly more complex that the older-style Bulgarian music that I discuss in this tutorial.
Here, I'll be discussing the harmony that characterizes Bulgarian instrumental dance music from roughly 1920 to the late 1970s. The period covers the earliest sound recordings up to, but not including the "wedding music" in the 1980s. I exclude the elaborate vocal arrangements of Philip Koutev (and his imitators) whose harmony is closer to that of 20th century classical music. I also exclude traditional folkloric performances (e.g. Koprivstitsa) that, for the most part, don't incorporate harmony.
One reason Bulgarian harmony is so gorgeous is that it draws from and seemlessly blends a number of distinct influences. Amoung them:
Drone traditions: Some traditional singing places a pedal-tone or drone against the melody. Each note of the scale forms a distinct 2-note "chord" that imparts a distinct harmonic flavor. Some of these flavors are harsher (e.g. 2nds), some are smoother (e.g. 4ths), but each is savored in a way separate from the appeal of the melody itself. Drones may be constant or variable. The most common variable drone moves to the 7th (down 1 step) toward the end of a phrase, returning to the tonic by the final note. The now common triadic progression I-VII-I (discussed later) seems to me to be an elaboration of this variable drone pattern.
Makam: Makam (also maqam) is a sophisticated system of scales in Arabic music that differ intonationally from the 12-note equal temperment of Western art music. Aspects of Arabic makam diffused into many Balkan musical styles, especially through its Turkish variants. In Bulgaria, makam's influence is felt primarily through the use of prominent augmented 2nds in the scales, and the resulting implied harmony. To enable Western-style harmonic triads, makam scales in Bulgarian are usually "rounded" to the nearest 12-note equal pitch. The most prominent makam-influenced scale is hijaz, with the augmented 2nd between scale degrees 2 and 3. Augmented 2nds between scale degrees 3 and 4 and scale degrees 6 and 7 are also common. The harmonic implications of these scales are discussed below.
Church modes: The so-called church modes (also called Gregorian modes) are scales used in the Byzantine church which are vaguely familiar to Westerners via their Greek names (e.g. Dorian mode, Lydian mode). The historical connection between church tradition and 20th century Bulgarian music is unclear, but the established theory provides helpful standard terminology for many Bulgarian diatonic scales that don't conform to the tonal expectations of Western art music. For example, most church modes have no leading tone.
"Western" harmony:Bulgarian harmonic practice includes progressions that are seen in Western art (and folk) music. Patterns used in Bulgaria are limited to triads on scale degrees near the tonic (on the circle of fifths) and have standard Western expectation of cadence through the dominant. Typical examples include I-IV-V-I and V/V-V-I. More exotic Western harmonies, like German 6ths and French 6ths, and 7th and 9th chords generally, are not a part of the Bulgarian harmonic language discussed here.
Bulgarian harmonic sensibility is shaped by the above influences. Understanding these influences helps you in using them. Let's make a cooking analogy, and think of harmonies as spices. A good cook is aware of all her spices, and artfully blends them to accentuate the flavors of a dish. She doesn't just dump everything into the pot and stir. Similarly, a good musician places appropriate harmonic ideas at key spots in a melody to accentuate its particular flavor. Indiscriminant use of disparate harmonic ideas detracts from the central musical idea and turns a melody into a mess. (This is, unfortunately, a defect in a number of wedding band chord players I've heard, whose driving principle appears to be variety above all else. I usually get the feeling at such performances that the chord player is fundamentally bored with the tunes, and is amusing himself with producing as many somewhat plausible chord variations as possible, musicality be damned.)
A common approach to harmonizing tunes is to look and the scale degrees of the strong beats of a melody, and select a harmony that includes them. I believe this is fundamentally a mistake. This approach seems to imply that continued consonance is the goal of harmony. That this is mistaken can be seen by considering that way a drone works against a melody. Each melodic scale degree creates a different 2-note "harmony" against the drone, each beautiful, but each with a different degree of consonance.
As an alternative, let's consider harmony as being in dialog with the melody - always considerate and supportive, but varying over time in their activity and levels of agreement. The ultimate goal is an interesting conversation, with ebbs and flows. Sometimes the melody will have more to say, sometimes the harmony. Bulgarian melodies are intricate, and have a lot to say, but they are also fairly repetitious. Sometimes harmony can assert itself during a melodic repetition to make the conversation seem fresher. The fast changing notes of a Bulgarian melody sometimes present the harmonizer with several plausible harmonic choices, each of which would lead the melody in a different way. In such situations, it's not a question of picking the "right" harmony, but of the harmony and melody agreeing what direction to take the conversation.
Bulgarian triads are usually major or minor and grow naturally from the scales being used (sometimes an open fifth is appropriate). In most cases it should be obvious from the melody which modality is appropriate for a given scale degree. Exceptions are when a melody of small compass leaves some parts of the scale undefined, in which case the player must use his judgement. Occasionally, both a major and minor triad occur for the same scale degree in a melody (this is especially true of IV). The chord patterns below may be interpreted in whatever scale presents the melody uses, by adjusting triads from major to minor as appropriate. Only a few progressions will require specific modalities (see below).
For the moment, I've decided not to attempt to classify all the scales used in Bulgarian music so that one can assign major and minor chords to each degree. That approach strikes me as overly pedantic and beset with another set of classification problems distinct from harmonic ones. Rather, I leave this to the player to determine chord modality from the melodic context. We shall see if this approach is workable as I write more of this document.
I'm introducing some jargon here, because I'm unaware of any standard terminology for this concept. Please let me know if you are.
Some chords are good substitutes for others - they are not exactly the same, but impart the same general flavor. Such chords are said to be part of the same chord class (for example, in C major, F major and D minor are part of the same chord class). I denote chord classes with a scale degree and an asterisk (e.g. IV* = IV and IIm).
Moving between two chords in the same class creates a different effect than between two chords of different classes. Moving within a class prolongs the feeling of a chord, but add a (hopefully) pleasing new freshness. Moving between classes creates a sense of forward harmonic motion.
My approach to harmony is that most melodic phrases will follow one of the basic patterns of harmonic motion listed in the next section. Elements of a basic pattern may be either chords or chord classes. If the latter, any of the chords comprising the class may be appropriate (each with a slightly different flavor). Sometimes two (or more) chords from a class will occur one after another. This is considered an elaboration of the basic pattern. The pattern itself does not change.
Some melodies (especially complex ones that tend toward the wedding band style) may require a combination of two of the basic chord patterns. Such complex patterns tend to occur early in a piece. Later melodies tend to be distillations of earlier melodic material and use simpler harmonies.
Many of the patterns may occur in several different scales, with the chords on each degree appropriately adjusted. All chords prescribed here are major or minor triads. There is a brief mention of 7th chords (used for color) at the end of this document.
Each melody is a piece is first considered separately. Some melodies admit multiple harmonies. Once this is done, the piece should be considered as a whole, and harmonies adjusted. The adjustments may be to make melodies more alike (to emphasize recurring motifs) or to make melodies more different (for variety's sake). This shaping of the overall piece is the greatest test of your harmonic musicality, but also admits the greatest rewards.
The first few melodies of a piece are usually the most melodically complex, and often require the most complex progressions. And the piece develops, the melodies harmonies usually get simpler. In ensembles, the solos in the middle of the piece are most often taken against a single harmony (I), especially when they are improvised.
Here are the basic harmonic patterns. A more detailed discussion with examples follow in the following sections.
I: This is the "pattern" of a single harmony held throughout the melody. This idea grows naturally out of melodies sung against a constant drone (see above).
I-VII*-I: This is really the most common Bulgarian melodic pattern, probably origination from the most common variable vocal drone (see above). Its character is so different in different scales, it can be difficult to realize its the same pattern.
I-IV*-VII*-I: This is an elaboration of the I-VII*-I pattern that progresses backward through the circle of fifths, allowing for more elegant harmonies.
I-II*-V*-VI: This pattern (done only in major) starts like the one above, but ends by moving to the relative minor. From the viewpoint of the relative minor, the progression is III-IV*-VII*-I.
VI-VII*-IV*-I: This pattern reverses the one above, starting in minor and moving to the relative major. From the viewpoint of the relative major, the progression is VI-II*-V*-I.
I-IV*-V-I: This is the main pattern of of Western harmony, progressing tonic, subdominant, dominant, tonic. Many varieties of the pattern exist, for example adding an additional I between IV and V. However, they're all just different realizations of the same basic idea.
I-IV*-V/V-V: This pattern is common in tunes from the Shope region in major keys. Kirilov coined the nice term "Shope major" for this progression, which I will adopt here. The phrase ends on the dominant, with the expectation of resolution to the tonic with the beginning of the next phrase.
In older recordings, pattern "I" may be used through large portions of a tune. In "Narodno horo" (below) by Ahmed Babakov (clarinet), the backup orchestra remains on either G or G minor for several melodies at a time. This style of backup grows quite uncommon by the 1960s, as Bulgarian instrumental harmonies become more complex. However, the older style has a definite charm.
Later in the piece, the backup is G major, even though Bb appears in the melody (bar 5 below). The slight clash created by this cross-relation I find charming, although some would disagree. To my ear, playing the minor 3rd against a major chord sometimes sounds interesting, while playing the major 3rd against a minor chord just sounds wrong.
A common pattern in to move between major I and minor I within a single melody. In such passages, it's nice to play the root in the bass on major chords, and the 5th in the base on minor chords.
Copyright 2015 Erik Butterworth. All rights reserved.