Which Comes First? Melody, Harmony?

Thursday, the 6^th of November 2025 

#composing #Tide #SeaSymphony  

Pasta and Polyphony (aka Thursday Night), four friends round to eat, drink and sing. They asked me about the composition process, which is still a mystery to me. What comes first, melody or harmony? My notebook has fragments of melody and whole tunes (including the big theme in the 4^th movement). It also has harmonies – oscillating chords or full harmonic sequences. The big theme has been matched with one of those harmonic sequences with a little adjustment. I must have had the harmony in my mind somewhere while I wrote the big theme, but I don’t know where. And the big theme must have been there in some form while I wrote out the harmonic sequence, but perhaps not fully formed.