Harmony as Process: Diatonic Sequences and the Organization of Pitch Relations in Time

This article proposes a process-based reconceptualization of harmony as an emergent organization

of pitch relations unfolding in time. Rather than treating the chord as a static pitch collection, the

model shifts analytical focus to the consistent connection of pitches within the diatonic scale. Step

sequences are introduced as a new class of musical material: repeatable orderings of relations that

generate characteristic patterns of stability, change, and directionality independently of local pitch

structures. The article demonstrates that different orderings of identical pitch material give rise

to distinct hearing processes, even when the resulting pitch collections coincide. The consistent

application of a chosen sequence produces a specific model of harmonization, not as an aesthetic

prescription, but as a generative consequence of the process itself. Compositional agency is thereby

relocated from chord selection to the choice of sequences, the definition of interruption points, and

the integration of pitch processes with other musical parameters. Harmony is thus described as a

temporal and relational phenomenon, offering an alternative perspective that intersects with, yet

remains distinct from, both functional harmony and freely post-tonal techniques.