Chapter 10

Expanding your Harmonic Vocabulary


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Flashcards

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modulation

a change of key within a composition.

secondary dominant

a V(7) chord from a non-tonic key that is used to tonicize a target harmony.

secondary leading tone chord

a diminished, half-diminished, or fully-diminished chord built on the leading tone of a non-tonic key that is used to tonicize a target harmony.

tonicization

a progression that allows a target harmony to be heard fleetingly as a new tonic, due to the use of a chord or chords with secondary function.

pivot modulation

a seamless key change that is made using a chord that exists diatonically in both the original and target keys.

mode mixture

the practice of using borrowed chords from the parallel key to enliven the harmonic landscape of a piece.

borrowed chord

a non-diatonic chord that exists in the parallel key.

Picardy third

a type of mode mixture wherein the chordal third of the final tonic harmony in a minor key piece is raised by a half step to create a major I chord.

text painting

the process of reflecting the meaning of a word or phrase using musical parameters such as harmony.

Neapolitan sixth chord

a non-diatonic major triad in first inversion that is built on the lowered supertonic.

augmented sixth chord

a chromatic predominant that features an augmented sixth interval between the lowered submediant in the bass and the raised subdominant in an upper voice, along with tonic and potentially one other scale degree (the minor mediant or the supertonic).

chromatic mediant

any non-diatonic harmony or key area whose root or tonic is a third interval away from the original tonal center, such as the major mediant in a major key.

planing

the process of transposing a sonority to a different pitch level with all voices moving in parallel motion.

chromatic modulation

a change of key (often to a distantly related key) that makes use of a chord or voice leading pattern that is not diatonic in both the home and target keys.

octatonic scale

an eight-note scale that features a consistent, symmetrical pattern of alternating half and whole steps.

altered dominant

a dominant triad or seventh chord that possesses either a diminished or, more commonly, an augmented fifth.

tritone substitution

a harmonic substitution used in jazz featuring a dominant seventh chord that can be thought of as replacing a more normative dominant seventh chord (whose root is located a tritone away) that would create root motion by falling fifth in a manner similar to a ii–V(–I) progression. The result of a tritone substitution is half-step root motion (e.g., Db7–C).

add chord

a triad to which a note is added that creates an interval of a major sixth or major second above the chord’s root in some octave.

extended chord

a seventh chord with one or more compound intervals added above the root to create a large tertian sonority of four or more consecutive thirds.

chord extensions

chord members that create compound intervals above the root.

sus chord

a quartal harmony featuring both a perfect fourth and fifth above the bass, and no chordal third.

contrafact

a piece whose harmonic structure is similar to another well-known work, despite its melody being unique.

pentatonic scale

a five-tone pitch collection that can be considered as a rotation of the diatonic system without the two tones that form a tritone interval.

blues scale

a characteristic scale used in blues and jazz styles that can be considered as a minor pentatonic scale with an added half step between scale degrees four and five.

diatonic modes

the seven intervallically unique scales that represent individual rotations of the diatonic system.

Ionian mode

a diatonic mode that is equivalent to the major scale, with a step pattern W–W–H–W–W–W–H.

Dorian mode

a diatonic mode that is similar to a natural minor scale with a raised sixth degree and features a step pattern of W–H–W–W–W–H–W.

Phrygian mode

a diatonic mode that is similar to a natural minor scale with a lowered second degree and features a step pattern of H–W–W–W–H–W–W.

Lydian mode

a diatonic mode that is similar to a major scale with a raised fourth degree and features a step pattern of W–W–W–H–W–W–H.

Mixolydian mode

a diatonic mode that is similar to a major scale with a lowered seventh degree and features a step pattern of W–W–H–W–W–H–W.

Aeolian mode

a diatonic mode that is equivalent to the natural minor scale, with a step pattern W–H–W–W–H–W–W.

Locrian mode

a diatonic mode that is similar to a natural minor scale with a lowered fifth degree and lowered second degree; this mode features a step pattern of H–W–W–H–W–W–W.

power chord

an open fifth sonority characteristic of hard rock and metal styles, typically consisting of the root, fifth, and octave played in the lowest possible register of a distorted guitar.

direct modulation

an abrupt, unprepared key change.