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Music Theory for Musicians and Normal People Diatonic Harmony tobyrush.com music theory for musicians and normal people by toby w. rush although a chord is technically any combination of notes Triads played simultaneously, in music theory we usually define chords as the combination of three or more notes. secundal tertial quartal quintal harmony harmony harmony harmony and œ harmony? œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ tertial œ œ œ septal chords built from chords built from chords built from chords built from seconds form thirds (MORE perfect fourths perfect fifths tone clusters, SPECifically, from create a different can be respelled as respectively. harmony, which are not major thirds and sound, used in quartal chords, harmonic so much minor thirds) compositions from and as such they harmony? as timbral. form the basis of the early 1900s do not create a most harmony in and onward. separate system of are the same as as with quintal harmony, these harmony, as with quintal the common harmony. secundal practice period. sextal well, diminished thirds sound is the chord still tertial just like major seconds, and if it is built from diminished augmented thirds sound just thirds or augmented thirds? like perfect fourths, so... no. œ œ the lowest note in the chord & œ let’s get started when the chord is in simple on tertial harmony form is called œ the the & œ with the smallest root. fifth œ chord possible: names of the œ third ? œ when we stack the triad. other notes œ the chord in are based on root thirds within one octave, their interval we get what is called the above the root. œ simple form of the chord. œ a triad is defined as a three-note chord, incidentally, four-note chords are technically but in practice it is almost always used called tetrads, but we usually call them to refer to tertial three-note chords. seventh chords, since they add a seventh. there are four ways to create a triad using major and minor thirds: the the the the minor major diminishedtriad triad triad augmentedtriad two minor thirds a major third on top a minor third on top two major thirds stacked together a minor third on bottom a major third on bottom stacked together min 3rd maj 3rd min 3rd maj 3rd & bbœ min 3rd & bœ min 3rd & œ maj 3rd & #œ maj 3rd c°œ cœ Cœ Cœ+ we label triads using their root (”a c minor triad”). the abbreviations shown above, which use upper case, lower case, and symbols to show chord type, are called macro analysis. licensed under a creative commons BY-NC-ND license - visit tobyrush.com for more music theory for musicians and normal people by toby w. rush Triads in Inversion and he’s brought a ladies and gentlemen, it’s movement from his 1767 franz joseph haydn! sonata in g major. thank you for having me. in this piece I use quite a few triads. ooh! let’s see ‘em! haydn here’s one: it has the notes c, e and g. it’s a c major re for? ce was. ound he hat the pie hat oping ar d you w d you eady tol eady re you sno re you he alr what a what # j œ j œ 3 œ œ œ œ œ triad!œ œveryœ nice.œ œ œ œ œ œ. & 8 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ . œ œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ. œ f . thank you. see how the notes . œ. œ œ œ . œ. œ œ œ. œ ? # 3 ‰ œ œ areœ spreadœ œ out,‰ œand not just œ œ. œ . 8 œ œ œ stackedJ in œthirds?œ it’sœ stillœ œ J J a triad, though. J J œ # œ. œ œ œ ´ œ œ œ ´ œ œ œ œ´ œ œ œ œ œ´ j & this. one is g,œ b, œandœ œ d...œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ a g majorJ œ triad!œ but it soundsœ œ œ . different,f somehow. p that’sF because the third of the f œ . j œ . chordj is in the .bass...œ when. .that happens, ? # œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ. ‰ œ œ œ œ we say theœ chordœ œis in firstœ inversion.œ ‰ J œ œ J œ œ. J J œ œ œ œ . U # œ œ œ œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ . n b & œ œ firstœ œ œ œ inversion?œ œ œ whatœ is itœ œ œ œ œ. œ . b called when the root isœ œinœ the. J bass, like the first chord ƒthat’s called . we lookedœ. at?œ root position. œ. œ ? # œ œ œ œ. œ œ œ. œ œ . œ . n b œ œ œ œ J ‰ J J œ . b œ J J œ œ œ œ so this one with d, f, and a M M is a d minorœ triad... in M M #œ œ second inversion!œ œ œ bb . ‰ œ ‰‰ œ ‰‰ J #œ ‰‰ œ ‰‰ nœ œ #œ œ ‰ . & . J J J ‰‰ ‰‰ J J J . p F p exactly!nœ becauseœ œ theœ ? œ fifth? isœ inœ the bass.œ œ œ œ bb . ‰ & ‰œœ ‰ œ ‰ œ ‰œœ ‰ ‰ œ œ . œ œ so the thing that makes a triad root position, first inversion that’s right! or second inversion is simply and each one which note is in the bass? has its own character. it’s hard to believe that the sound of the chord can change so much just because of the bass note. I know, right? it’s awesome. haydn licensed under a creative commons BY-NC-ND license - visit tobyrush.com for more music theory for musicians and normal people by toby w. rush musical works written in the baroque era would often include a part called the basso continuo which would Figured Bass consist of a single bass clef melodic line with various numbers and accidentals printed beneath the notes. no, no, no... there wasn’t an actual instrument called a basso continuo! the part was played by two instruments: a bass clef instrument like cello or bassoon, and a keyboard instrument like a harpsichord. in performances, the bass clef instrument would simply play the given notes, but the keyboard player would improvise a part based on the notes and the symbols below the part! j.S. Bach: brandenberg concerto no. 5, bwv 1050 ?# œ #œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ so this...# œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ 6 6 #6 6 #6 6 6 #6 6 9 5 6 # Figure 1. Te Basso Continuo # 5 5 5 could be played as this! the numbers and symbols # j printed below the basso # œ œ œ œ œ & œ œ œ œ œ #œ œœ œ œ œ œ continuo part are called œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œœ œ œ #œ the figured bass. So how J J do you turn figured bass into chords? ? # œ #œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ # œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ first of all, it’s important to know that the note given on the bass clef part is always the bass note of the chord. and remember: the bass is not necessarily the root! second, the numbers represent intervals ?# w ?# w ?# w above the bass, even # w # w # w though some numbers (5) 6 w6 are usually left out. (3) (3) 4 if there are a six by itself a six and a four note that the intervals no numbers, indicates a sixth indicate a sixth are always diatonic. add a third and and a third above and a fourth don’t worry about a fifth above the the bass, which above the bass, inflection... just use bass... you get a creates a first giving you a second the notes from the root position triad! inversion triad! inversion triad! key signature! lastly, accidentals are applied to the interval nw they appear with. if you ?# #w ?# #w ?# w have an accidental by # w # w # w itself, it applies to the w third above the bass. #6 # n 6 don’t overthink these: here, the sharp here, there is no note that there is if the composer wants applies to the number next to the a natural, not a flat, a note raised by a half- sixth above the sharp, so we apply next to the six... bass, so we add a it to the third above if it were a flat, we step and it’s flatted in sharp to the g. the bass note. would write a c flat. the key signature, the figured bass will have a natural, not a sharp. by the time the classical period got realizing figured bass (writing chords going, composers stopped including a given a figured bass line) makes for an basso continuo part, and so figured excellent exercise for students to learn bass fell out of use... with only one how to write in the common practice exception: music theory classes! period style! wooo! licensed under a creative commons BY-NC-ND license - visit tobyrush.com for more music theory for musicians and normal people by toby w. rush now that we’re familiar with how Triads Within Tonality triads work, it’s time to put them into the context of a key.
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