Category: Music Theory 104
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Modulation Basics
Modulation is the process by which a new tonal center is created. There is a bit of a grey area between secondary chord function, tonicization, and modulation. Tonicization tends to be a temporary twisting of the ear toward a tonic, but in a modulation the tonicization is often more well-established by persistent accidentals or through…
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Closely Related Keys
Closely related keys can be found by looking at the circle of fourths. The three adjacent keys and their relative minors are the keys with the most in common, and modulated to most often because of this. Common Chords Among Closely Related Keys The following charts show the relationships of common chords among closely related…
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Intro to the ii-V-I
Diatonic Seventh Chords in Major Check your understanding of the following chart. You should be able to identify seventh chords by their theoretical name (major-minor seventh) and by their common name (dominant seventh). Diatonic Seventh Chords in Harmonic Minor Look over the same chart in the parallel harmonic minor. Notice that the quality of the…
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Secondary Function
Secondary Leading Tone The most unique triad in the major key is the diminished leading tone triad. Since it is the only diminished triad in major and because it contains the tritone, it is the chord that most effectively allows you to hear the tonic. By constructing a leading tone triad before any major or…
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Diatonic Chord Orbits
I’ve been playing around with circle diagrams. We are titling the following chart “Diatonic Chord Orbits”: It is a nice way to demonstrate the relationships and shared tones between dominant and leading tone sevenths with other diatonic chords. Note that the inner circle contains only primary chords and that all the major scale tones are…
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Part Writing with Dominant and Leading Tone Sevenths
Review Seventh Chords Review the fundamentals of seventh chords. Make sure you understand qualities, naming conventions, and inversions. Structure of Dominant Sevenths Dominant Seventh chords are major-minor type seventh chords (Mm7). In a major key, the only diatonic occurrence of a Mm7 is on the 5th scale degree, hence the name ‘dominant’ seventh. Another way…
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Part Writing Guidelines
Stay within the range. Favor stepwise motion. Avoid melodic A2, A4, d5. No more than an octave between S+A, A+T. If the bass voice is below C3, place the tenor above E3. Avoid consecutive P5 and P8. Double the bass note unless it is a sensitive chord tone. Move soprano and bass voices in contrary…
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Part Writing Triads in Inversion
Why Inversions? Vary the sound of harmonies. Vary the harmonic “weight” of chord resolutions. Reduce the “clunkiness” of the bass line and improve voice leading. First Inversion Doubling In major and minor triads, double any voice except sensitive tones (leading tone, altered tones). This is almost always a doubled bass or soprano voice. Consider the…
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The Chorale: Part 2
Root Position Chord Movements in Seconds Chords that are a second apart share no common tones. Doubling The bass voice should be doubled in root position whenever possible to provide the most harmonic stability. If the bass cannot be double for a valid harmonic reason, doubling the third of the chord is the next most…
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The Chorale: Part 1
The Chorale A chorale is a Lutheran hymn. During the Protestant Reformation, the break with the Catholic church created a need for “new” musical material to perform during church services. In the 17th century, these melodies were arranged into 4-part polyphonic works. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was among the most prolific composers of these harmonizations. Bach…
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