Roman Numerals Roman Numerals Are the Ancient Roman Counting System That Used Letters to Denote Quantities

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Roman Numerals Roman numerals are the ancient Roman counting system that used letters to denote quantities. In Western music, it can be common to use Roman numerals as a form of notation, indicating the position of the root note in each chord on the scale of that composition. If a piece is written in C major, then C major is the tonic chord, D is the second, E the third, etc. Roman numerals, therefore, indicate which chord the notes in the music belong to. If the Roman numerals are:

I II III IV V VI VII VIII 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Different Symbols If the Roman numerals are there to help you understand which chord those notes belong to, then why are some Roman numerals in upper case, while others are in lower case? That's because not all chords are the same. Different kinds of chords have different notations. There are four major ones.

• When the Roman numerals are in upper case (I, IV, V, etc.), then the chord is major • If the Roman numerals are in lower case (i, iv, v, etc.), then the chord is minor • If the Roman numerals are in upper case with a plus sign next to them, then the chord is augmented • If the Roman numerals are in the lower case with a small circle next to them, then the chord is diminished

Major Chord

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These notations matter because every scale has a natural progression of major and minor chords. In a major chord, that progression is major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished.

• The first, fourth, and fifth chords are major, so we'd write them as I, IV, and V • The second, third, and sixth are minor, so we'd write them as ii, iii, and vi • The seventh is diminished, so it would be a vii with a small circle next to it - viio

C Major

I ii iii IV V vi viio VIII

Minor Chord Just as major keys have a set pattern of chords, so do minor keys. In a natural minor scale, for example, the pattern is generally minor, diminished, major, minor, minor, major, major. In Roman numerals, that would look like this: C Natural minor

i iio III iv v VI VII viii

C Harmonic minor

i iio III+ iv V VI viio viii

Roman Numeral Notation in Music Theory. (2020, January 20). Retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/roman-numeral-notation-in-music-theory.html.

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