Harmony and Voice Leading

Question 1

Tonic

Answer 1

In the major-minor tonal system, the main note of a key (also called its keynote), after which the key is named; the name of the scale-step or Degree of that note; the triad built on that note. In music based on one of the church modes, the function of tonic is most closely approached by the Final of that mode.

Question 2

Dominant

Answer 2

In the tonal system, the fifth Degree of the major or minor scale, the triad built upon that degree, or the key that has this triad as its tonic. The dominant scale degree is considered one of the most important pitches of a key, since like the fifth in the tonic triad it is harmonically stable. The dominant chord is an essential part of the standard (V-I) Cadence in tonal music, in which context its own triad is required to be major. Also, the most common goal of modulation throughout the tonal era, a phenomenon which has been attributed in part to a large amount of common pitch content between any tonic key and the key of its dominant.

Question 3

Subdominant

Answer 3

The fourth degree of the major or minor scale, so-called because it lies as much below the tonic as the dominant lies above the tonic, namely a 5th.

Question 4

Mediant

Answer 4

The third degree of the major or minor scale, so-called because of its intermediate position between the keynote, or tonic, and the 5th degree, or dominant. It “determines the mode” of a scale, since the interval it makes with the tonic - major or minor 3rd - determines whether the scale is major or minor.

Question 5

Submediant

Answer 5

The sixth degree of the major or minor scale, so-called because it is as much below the tonic as the mediant lies above the tonic, namely a 3rd. The submediant of any major scale is brought into prominence chiefly as the topic of its relative minor.

Question 6

Supertonic

Answer 6

The second degree of the major or minor scale, so-called because it lies one step above the tonic. For example, in the C major scale, the supertonic is the note D. The supertonic shares two notes with the subdominant chord (F and A in the key of C).

Question 7

Subtonic

Answer 7

The seventh scale degree in a harmonic context; in a melodic context this degree is called the Leading note if it lies a semitone below the tonic, whereas ‘subtonic’ may also refer to a diatonic pitch a whole tone below the tonic (e.g. Bb in C minor). ‘Subtonic’ is sometimes used as an English equivalent for Subtonium.

Question 8

Secondary Dominant

Answer 8

The dominant of a degree other than the tonic, usually indicated by the symbol ‘V/’. Thus in a key of C major, for instance, a D major triad may function as V/V, an E major triad as V/VI, an A major triad as V/II, and a B major triad as V/III.

Question 9

Tonicization

Answer 9

The act of establishing a new key centre, or of giving a degree other than the first the role of tonic. This is accomplished by emphasizing the crucial properties of that tonic, in particular, its fourth scale degree and leading note, both of which are part of its dominant 7th chord. Tonicization can help delay the arrival of the home key. This can also be used to show how one diatonic collection can be musically enriched by the implication of another.

Question 10

Modulation

Answer 10

In tonal music, a firmly established change of key, as opposed to a passing reference to another key, is known as ‘tonicization’. The scale or pitch collection and characteristic harmonic progressions of the new key must be present, and there will usually be at least one cadence to the new tonic. Techniques of modulation often involve pivot chords, that is, chords common to the original key and the new key which can provide a transition between the two.

Question 11

Modal mixture

Answer 11

This is a harmonic technique of mixing the notes from the parallel major and natural-minor modes (e.g. C major and C minor). The results in changing the chord qualities and/or melodic “color” to achieve expressive effects are not available in the main scale itself. In the majority of cases, this occurs in major-key pieces where notes from the parallel minor are borrowed. Most of this chapter reflects that norm.

Question 12

Cadential 6/4 chord

Answer 12

This is an embellishment of the dominant that results from the combination of two embellishing tones a 6th and a 4th above the bass note sol. We label the cad. 6/4 and its resolution to V7 as one unit. Any chord that normally approaches V can approach cad. 6/4. Most commonly, this is one of the strong predominants.

Question 13

Passing 6/4 chord

Answer 13

This type of 6/4 chord is used much like the non-chord tone called a passing tone. The bass note of this six-four chord behaves just like passing tone-in other words, this bass note, the note before it, and the note after it will make a three-note stepwise line, either ascending or descending. You can write a Passing Chord by taking a chord and its first inversion.

Question 14

Pedal 6/4 chord

Answer 14

In this type of 6/4 chord, the bass note sustains like a pedal tone, or conversely, you might say that two of the upper voices behave like neighbor tones. With a pedal of six-four, the bass stays on the same note for three chords in a row-the six-four chord is the middle chord of the three. The bass note is doubled in all three chords. The first and third chords are usually the same root position chord.

Question 15

Neapolitan

Answer 15

The Neapolitan is a predominant chord. It is derived from the diminished iio chord in minor, by lowering the root. The Neapolitan is a major triad built on the lowered second scale degree; therefore it consists of these scale degrees: lowered 2, 4, and the low 6. In a minor key, the sixth scale degree is already low, so it requires no alteration; only the 2nd scale degree needs to be lowered. The Neapolitan in its most classic use is in the first inversion and revolves to V.

Question 16

Italian +6th chord

Answer 16

A category of chromatic, predominant harmonies whose name is derived from the inclusion of a very specific interval, the augmented sixth between le-fi. The interval of the augmented sixth is contained within each type. Augmented sixth chords are another strategy for creating harmonic intensification with chromaticism. They are mostly used as predominant harmony and lead directly to root-position V at a cadence point. The Italian sixth is formed on the fourth degree. Most commonly, it is in the first inversion. Its root is raised creating an augmented sixth interval with the bass.

Question 17

German +6th chord

Answer 17

A category of chromatic, predominant harmonies whose name is derived from the inclusion of a very specific interval, the augmented sixth between le-fi. The interval of the augmented sixth is contained within each type. Augmented sixth chords are another strategy for creating harmonic intensification with chromaticism. They are mostly used as predominant harmony and lead directly to root-position V at a cadence point. The German adds the flat 3rd to the Italian’s flat 6th, raised 4th, and first scale degree.

Question 18

French +6th chord

Answer 18

A category of chromatic, predominant harmonies whose name is derived from the inclusion of a very specific interval, the augmented sixth between le-fi. The interval of the augmented sixth is contained within each type. Augmented sixth chords are another strategy for creating harmonic intensification with chromaticism. They are mostly used as predominant harmony and lead directly to root-position V at a cadence point. The French sixth is formed on the second degree. It is the seventh chord. Most commonly, it stands in its second inversion. Its third is raised in order to build an augmented sixth interval with the bass.

Question 19

Ninth chord

Answer 19

This is a chord that encompasses the interval of a ninth when arranged in a close position with the root in the bass. The most common ninth chords are built on the dominant degree in minor keys as well as in major keys. Since the ninth formed is major in major keys and minor in minor keys, those chords are called major dominant ninths and minor dominant ninths. You can find an augmented ninth chord in Chopin’s Prelude 4.

Question 20

Pivot chord

Answer 20

Pivot chords are used when music modulates from one key to the next. The pivot chord will be a chord that both keys share. A pivot chord is a chord that is common to both keys.

Question 21

Quartal harmony

Answer 21

This is the building of harmonic structures built from the intervals of the perfect fourth, the augmented fourth, and the diminished fourth. For instance, a three-note quartal chord on C can be built by tacking perfect fourths, C-F-Bb.

Question 22

Tone cluster

Answer 22

Henry Cowell created these new sonorities which on the piano, the pianist depresses several adjacent keys (e.g., with the forearm). He later called these sonorities secondal harmonies-i.e., harmonies based on the interval of a second in contrast to the traditional basis of a third.

Question 23

Polychord

Answer 23

A polychord consists of two or more chords, one on top of the other. In shorthand, they are written with the top chord above a line and the bottom chord below, for example, F upon C: FC. The use of polychords may suggest bitonality or polytonality. A polychord could also consist of two seventh chords, or a seventh chord and a triad. A polychord conceivably consists of more than two triads or seventh chords, since the prefix “poly” means “many.”

Question 24

Pitch class

Answer 24

A pitch class is a set of all pitches that are a whole number of octaves apart. A4, A3, A2, etc. are all members of pitch class A. A pitch class is a group of pitches. In terms of pitch class, the notes imply octactice equivalence.

Question 25

Pitch class set

Answer 25

This is an unordered collection of pitch classes. More exactly, a pitch-class set is a numerical representation consisting of distinct integers.

Question 26

Set class

Answer 26

A collectiong of sets (or sometimes other mathematical objects) that can be unambiguously defined by a property that all its members share. Classes act as a way to have set-like collections while differing from sets so as to avoid Russell’s Paradox.

Question 27

Twelve-tone row

Answer 27

Also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism is a method of musical composition first devised by Austrian composer Josef Haur. Arnold Schoenberg developed his own, better-known version of the 12-tone technique, which became associated with the “Second Viennese School” composers, who were the primary users of the technique in the first decades of its existence. All 12 notes of the chromatic scale are sounded as often as one another in a piece of music.

Question 28

Enharmonically Equivalent

Answer 28

The system of equal temperament tuning is used on keyboard instruments, two tones that sound the same but are notated (spelled) differently. Pitches such as F# and Gb are said to be enharmonic equivalents, both are sounded with the same key on a keyboard instrument. The same is true of intervals, which are always named according to their notation: Ab - F# is an augmented sixth, while Ab-Gb and G#-F# are both minor seventh.

Question 29

Parallel Keys

Answer 29

A minor key has the same tonic as a given major key or vice versa; C major and C minor are parallel keys.

Question 30

Relative Keys

Answer 30

A key with the same key signature as another: C major is the relative major of A minor; E minor is the relative minor of G major.

Question 31

Closely related keys

Answer 31

Any key will have 5 closely related keys. These are keys that differ from a given key by at most one sharp or one flat. These keys are most commonly used for modulation. There are three methods to finding closely related keys: 1. Subtracting and adding one accidental. 2. With the circle of fifths. 3. With scale degrees.

Question 32

Chromatic mediants

Answer 32

Basically a chromatic alteration to the root of a diatonic mediant and submediant that refers to the parallel tonality of the reference pitch or chord; or a chromatic alteration to the third of the available diatonic mediant and submediant chords in that tonality, causing a change in the chord quality. In Ca major, its diatonic mediant and submediant are Em and Am while its chromatic mediants would be E and A major, their respective parallel chords.

Question 33

Distantly Related Keys

Answer 33

A foreign key, or distantly related key that is not enharmonic, parallel, relative, or closely related. E minor is foreign to Bb major.

Question 34

Circle of Fifths

Answer 34

This is a way to organize the 12 chromatic pitches as a sequence of perfect fights. If C is chosen as a starting point, the sequence is C, G, D, A, E, B, F#, C#, Ab, Eb, Bb, F. This places the most closely related key signatures adjacent to one another. It is helpful in composing and harmonizing melodies, building chords, and modulating to different keys within a composition.

Question 35

Harmonic sequence

Answer 35

A motivic pattern of two or more harmonies in succession that is restated in transposition usually twice or three times, preserving the same melodic shape of each part of voice.

Question 36

Parallel fifths and octaves

Answer 36

Consecutive fifths, or parallel fifths, are progressions in which the interval of a perfect fifth is followed by a different perfect fifth between the same two musical parts: for example, C to D in one part along with G to A in a higher part. The issue with parallel fifths and octaves is the perfect blend of sonority which makes the notes sound like one note instead of two.

Question 37

Voice Crossing

Answer 37

The intersection of melodic lines in a composition leaves a lower voice on a higher pitch than a higher voice (and vice versa). Because this can cause registral confusion and reduce the independence of the voices, it is sometimes avoided in composition and pedagogical exercises. Voice crossing appears in free organum and appeared as early as John Cotton’s treatise De musica (1100).

Question 38

Cross relation

Answer 38

A cross-relation occurs when a pitch in one voice is followed by a chromatic alteration of the same pitch in another voice (like G#-Gb). Cross relations are best avoided in part-writing; they overemphasize the chromatic pitch. However, even Bach included cross-relations occasionally, especially between the end of one phrase and the start of the next.

Question 39

Appoggiatura

Answer 39

An ornamental note of long or short duration that temporarily displaces, and subsequently resolves into, the main note, usually by stepwise motion. During the Renaissance and early Baroque, the appoggiature were of moderate length, averaging one-third of the main note, and was more in the nature of a melodic than a harmonic ornament.

Question 40

Escape Tone

Answer 40

An escape tone is a king of incomplete neighbor tone that is unaccented, preceded by step from a chord tone, and followed by leap (usually down, but always in the opposite direction of the preceding step).