Harmony as Weather

Debussy released harmony from its Germanic obligation to resolve. A chord need not lead anywhere; it may simply be, like a cloud passing across the face of the sea. This is the founding gesture of modern music.

The whole-tone scale has no leading tone, no home key, no gravity. In 'La Mer' it becomes the very element the orchestra swims in. Listen for the moments when the melody seems to float free of the bar line — that is the weather changing.

At the keyboard, play any chord. Then play another chord that has no functional reason to follow it, but that sounds, to your ear, like the same hour of the same day. Continue for sixteen bars. You have written in Debussy's grammar.