Playing harmony 'over the top' ie. higher than the melody.
Some years ago I went to an organ demonstration and one of the organ professionals was telling us some of the 'dos' and 'don'ts' when playing organ/keyboard .. and one of the 'don'ts' was this. Never play the 'harmony' higher than the melody. "If you do," he said, "the ear will pick up the higher notes and they will become the melody." I suppose like a descant in a choir.
I couldn't have disagreed with him more. I reckon the ear picks up moving notes as the melody, so harmony notes held above the tune just give an amazing sounding harmony. And I reckon too that if you know the melody already then that is what you hear. The piano accordionist in the band I was in in Scotland was constantly doing this, and I suppose I picked up this technique from him.
Now this little bit of 'Playing Technique' cropped up because Ron Fraser had played a piece called Your Cheatin' Heart .. and I could hear that harmony playing 'over the top'.
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"Your Cheatin' Heart" played by Ron Fraser on Tyros 3.
This is what I said to Ron about it.
Now .. I found that so interesting! Harmony right through with the melody. And the harmony you played was what I call 'over the top' .. ie. the notes forming the harmony are 'higher' that the melody. The accordionist I played with in the Scottish Country Dance band I was in used to do that all the time. I used to think how he played that accordion was just wonderful! Doing that really makes the harmony special, and 'stand out'.
Ron said to me that he had achieved this effect by using the Harmony / Echo button on his keyboard. This picks up notes you are playing in your left hand and 'adds them' into the melody you are playing with your right hand .. with the right hand Voice you have chosen. You have several choices about the way the keyboard does this, one of them being COUNTRY DUET. Ideally you should be playing a single note melody line to get the best effect.
The DUET options just add one extra note into the mix. Listening closely, STANDARD DUET adds that extra note below the melody, and COUNTRY DUET adds in that extra note above the melody.
I have now played a piece (two tunes, True Love and Maori Farewell Song) to again demonstrate how harmony 'over the top' sounds. Not using a STYLE, I have done this on my Yamaha AR80 organ so that I could play a bass line on the pedals. And for this DEMO I haven't used HARMONY /ECHO (it's called MELODY ON CHORD on the AR) to create the harmony. I have played both the melody and the harmony with the fingers of my right hand, so the notes you hear are specifically the ones I wanted to be heard together.
In the recording below, for True Love I have put the harmony 'over the top' in the chorus (with the strings); and both verse and chorus when I switch from strings to 'horn'. In the Maori Farewell Song I have done the same with both horn and strings .. held harmony notes 'over the top' of the tune.
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"True Love / Maori Farewell Song" played by Hugh Wallington on the Yamaha AR80 organ.
I think you will be able to isolate the melody from the harmony 'over the top' when I play True Love for the second time (with Horns). Not sure about whether one can pick the melody out in Maori Farewell Song .. but then this song has always sort of been sung with a two part harmony.
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