Atmosphere

Musical

Example

Atmosphere

Secret

Score

Atmosphere

Music/

Score

Adding Color

We can now add some additional color to bring out the sparkle in these harmonies. The celesta is used to add a light tinkle to the violins' harmony:

Here, the celesta plays the downbeat of each violin chord as an arpeggio:

In bar 2, we introduce a new color. Here the flute contributes a "floating on air" quality to our atmospheric chords:

When the flute enters, it simply plays the top note from our five-note harmony.

When the flute plays its second note, it actually extends our quartal harmony. Here, the flute plays a perfect 4th (F) above the top note of our five-note chord (C). And in bar 3, the flute again simply plays the top note from our five-note chord.

In addition to the celesta, we reinforce our string harmony with a little help from the harp. Listen to the harp's final statement:

Although one octave lower, the harp merely outlines the notes of the final harmony, one note at a time.