Harmony

Musical harmony is created when melodies are layered on top of each other. Individually they may sound pleasant, but if orchestrated judiciously, together they can sound far more beautiful.

Outside of music, this same effect is at play all around us, of layered elements generating richer, deeper experiences. This, equally, is harmony.

To identify harmony seems to be completely subconscious, innate even. Some music is harmonious, some music isn't. Whether by nature or nurture, what we recognise as harmonious creates an undeniable, instantaneous satisfaction.

Similarly, the opposite of harmony - dissonance - is equally identifiable. In an instant you feel it, a certain wrongness, a discord. However, dissonance is not just wrong notes. Though wrong notes definitely generate an instant and obvious dissonance, dissonance could equally take two sparkling melodies or chords, but put them together to create a tension. This tension can be subtle or overt, just as harmony can be subtle or overt. Dissonance isn't necessarily a bad thing; sometimes the subtle use of tension is a more useful tool than complete balance or resolution.

Beyond music, this instant harmonic recognisability is also at work in many other experiences. Consider the harmony of complimentary flavours all layered together in a meal. Harmony of the different cinematic elements within a film. Harmony of interior design throughout a building. In each, harmony is immediately and demonstrablely identifiable.

Importantly, harmony can only exist if each of the features layered upon each other are thematically aligned. This thematical alignment may be across aesthetics, audio, feel, taste, aroma. However, though harmony is initially distinguishable as sensory, how we analyse this experience occurs far deeper in our consciousness. Because of this, without this thematic alignment within or across the senses, you will inevitably be left with some level of dissonance.

This stands to reason. Consider food which looks good but tastes bad, or food which smells bad but tastes good. Immediate dissonance.

Where identifying thematic alignment is innate, creating thematic alignment is a skill which must be developed. And so we have chefs, cinematographers and interior designers, all stewards of harmony in their specific domain.

With this lens of harmony, the more you look, the more you can identify the intentions and execution of harmony all around us.

Take retailers matching the ambiance of their stores with an aligned vibe, an aligned soundtrack, even an aligned smell. Take the subgenres of video game music, workout music, cooking music, party music. Take the branding of a business' logo, styling and font. In each and every instance there is a bridging and aligning of two completely seperate experiences.

At the very core of this foundation, I believe the ultimate inspiration for harmony is from nature.

Nature's harmony is far deeper than any man-made, articifial attempt at producing it. Think of a shadowy, sun-drenched canopy, of trees and vines and brush all intertwined, complete with ground cover and bugs and animals. This is then paired with the rustle of leaves, the surrussus of a gentle breeze, the hum of cicadas, the smell of rich, musky vegetation. All of it in harmony. Nature's harmony.

Interestingly, this harmony is completely precipitive. That is, no element is seperate from another; instead, each one is precipitating the next.

Wind precipitates the sound of rustling, the feeling on your skin, the sight of leaves dancing in a dusky overstory.

Waves precipitate the sound of crashing, the rush of water on your skin, the sight of a seething, frothing mass of water.

To be in the middle of natures harmony is the truest symphony one can experience.

In lue of precipitive harmony, humanity has strived to reproduce its effect, and in many domains suceeded.

To make the flow of elements completely natural in any domain is no mean feat, and yet we can all attest to its presence when it exists.

Creating harmony typically requires three ingredients: time, money and expertise.

Of these, the most important is probably expertise. The expertise in question is the ability to imagine which features will work together harmoniously, and then execute such a vision. These are the specialists mentioned before, the chefs, the cinematographers, the interior designers, the painters, the authors, the graphic designers, whose literal job it is faciliate an entire thematically aligned work.

It is admittedly possible to generate harmony without expertise, but to do so requires far more time and effort. We all have the ability to recognise harmony, but to create your own vision of it, and to execute such a vision requires a honed creativity and skill beyond any innate ability.

The vision of expertise comes down to the crystallisation of excessive observation into a subconscious ability to take any observed element and incorporate into something completely original and unique. That is, honed creativity.

The execution of expertise comes down to the output of excessive practice such that the techniques and subtlies of the art become second nature. That is, honed skill.

Compared to those who have devoted their life to such a pursuit, the amataur will barely ever be able to achieve complete harmony within their domain; this is why such specialists exist in the first place.

In execution, the expenditure of time and money will be completely dependent on the domain.

To experience harmony is to enjoy a kind of quiet bliss, a subconscious feeling that things are as they should be. With this lens, hopefully that underlying impression can now occassionally express itself as conscious thought.

Equally, that the same conscious thought can be applied to our own attempts at creating harmony. In this way, our own conscious thought can harmonise with our own actions, constructing a thematic alignment far deeper than that which we observe.

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