Articles tagged with: "voice leading"
Unlocking the Drama: A Complete Guide to Augmented Sixth Chords
Dive deep into the world of Augmented Sixth chords, the secret ingredient for musical drama and tension. This comprehensive guide breaks down the three main types—Italian, French, and German—with...
Mastering the 7#11 Chord: A Comprehensive Guide to Dominant Seventh Sharp Eleven
The 7#11 chord, also known as the dominant seventh sharp eleven, is a rich and colorful extended chord that adds harmonic tension and sophistication to music. This chord is particularly …
Tritone (Augmented Fourth): The Devil's Interval
The tritone, an interval spanning six semitones, is arguably the most fascinating and historically significant interval in Western music. Known for its jarring dissonance and powerful need for...
The 6/9 Chord: A Comprehensive Guide for Musicians
The 6/9 chord is a beautiful and versatile extended chord that adds color and richness to music. It is commonly used in jazz, pop, and classical music to create a …
Diminished Seventh Chord: The Master of Musical Tension
The diminished seventh chord is one of music's most dramatic and versatile harmonic tools. Built from a unique stack of minor thirds, this symmetrical chord creates intense tension that pulls...
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Unveiling the Diminished Octave: A Musician's Guide to Dissonance
The diminished octave is a fascinating and highly dissonant interval that, while rare, serves as a powerful tool for composers to create tension, surprise, and deep emotional color. This article...
The Andalusian Cadence (Am-G-F-E): A Complete Guide to This Iconic Progression
The Andalusian Cadence is a descending chord progression typically written as Am-G-F-E in modern notation. This four-chord sequence creates a distinctive melancholic yet powerful sound that has been...
Mastering the 7#11 Chord: The Complete Guide to Dominant Seventh Sharp Eleven
The 7#11 chord, also known as the dominant seventh sharp eleven or lydian dominant, is a rich and colorful extension of the basic dominant seventh chord. This sophisticated harmony adds …
Unlocking the Neapolitan Chord: A Comprehensive Guide for Musicians
Often described as poignant, dramatic, or surprising, the Neapolitan chord is a powerful expressive tool in tonal music. This guide demystifies this unique chromatic chord, covering its definition,...
The iii-vi-ii-V Progression: Circle of Fifths in Motion
The iii-vi-ii-V is one of the most elegant and common chord progressions in Western music, particularly in jazz and classic pop. It functions as a powerful extension of the fundamental …
Cadences: The Punctuation Marks of Music
In music, cadences function as harmonic punctuation marks, providing closure, pause, or surprise at the end of musical phrases. This comprehensive guide explores the principal types of...
The Augmented Unison: Understanding Music's Smallest Chromatic Step
This article demystifies the augmented unison, a fundamental interval in music theory. We explore its precise definition, its critical enharmonic relationship with the minor second, and its essential...
The Diminished Second: Unraveling Music Theory's Curious Unison
This article delves into the diminished second, one of the most peculiar intervals in music theory. We will explore why this interval, which sounds identical to a unison in modern …
The Ultimate Guide to the ii-V-I Progression
The ii-V-I progression (pronounced "two-five-one") is more than just a sequence of chords; it's the fundamental grammatical sentence of jazz and tonal music. Found in countless standards, from...
Dominant Ninth Chord: Adding Color to Dominant Harmony
The dominant ninth chord (9) is an extended harmony that adds sophistication and color to traditional dominant function chords. Built by adding a major ninth interval to a dominant seventh …
Sus2 Chord: The Open and Airy Suspended Harmony
The sus2 chord (suspended second) is a triad that replaces the defining third with a major second. This simple substitution removes the major or minor quality, creating a uniquely open, …
The Hendrix Chord (7#9): A Deep Dive into the Iconic Dominant Seventh Sharp Nine
The Hendrix Chord, formally known as the dominant seventh sharp nine (7#9), is a rich and dissonant chord that has become synonymous with the sound of Jimi Hendrix. It is …
Perfect Fourth Interval: The Foundation of Musical Stability
The perfect fourth, an interval spanning five semitones, is one of music's most fundamental and versatile building blocks. It is a perfect consonance, possessing a stable and pure sound derived …
Mastering the Minor 11th Chord: Theory and Application
The Minor 11th chord is a rich and complex extended chord that adds depth and color to musical compositions. This guide will explore its construction, historical context, and practical applications...
The Neapolitan Chord: A Guide to this Dramatic Chromatic Harmony
The Neapolitan chord, a striking chromatic harmony, adds a unique splash of color and emotion to music. This article demystifies this special chord, exploring its definition as a major triad …
Mastering the Half Diminished Chord: Construction, Applications, and Exercises
A half diminished chord, also known as a minor seventh flat five (m7♭5), is a four-note chord consisting of:
A Guide to Dominant Modulation: Changing Keys Like a Pro
Dominant modulation is a cornerstone of Western music, providing a smooth and powerful way to change keys. This article demystifies this essential harmonic tool, exploring what it is, how it …
The 7#11 Chord Demystified: Construction, Usage, and Musical Applications
The 7#11 chord, also known as the dominant seventh sharp eleven, is a rich and colorful extended chord that adds a unique flavor to harmonic progressions. This chord is widely …
Unlocking the Maj7#5 Chord: A Deep Dive into its Sound and Application
The Maj7#5 chord is a paradox: simultaneously floating and tense, beautiful and unsettling. This article explores its unique sonic qualities, from its theoretical construction as an augmented triad...
The Complete Musician's Guide to Altered Dominant (7alt) Chords
The altered dominant, commonly notated as 7alt, is a sophisticated dominant 7th chord that incorporates one or more altered extensions (b9, #9, b5, #5) to create maximum harmonic tension. This …
Sus4 Chord: The Classic Suspended Harmony
The sus4 chord (suspended fourth) is a triad where the third is replaced by a perfect fourth above the root. This creates a distinctive, open-sounding harmony with a strong tendency …
Decoding the Augmented Seventh: Music Theory's Curious Interval
This article demystifies the augmented seventh, a fascinating and rare musical interval. We will explore its unique characteristic of being enharmonically equivalent to a perfect octave, meaning it...
Mastering Diminished Modulation: A Powerful Harmonic Technique
Modulation—the art of moving between keys—is one of music's most thrilling expressive devices. Among various modulation techniques, diminished modulation stands out for its dramatic intensity and...
Altered Chords: Adding Color and Tension to Your Music
Altered chords are a cornerstone of modern harmony, providing a rich palette of tension and release by chromatically modifying standard chord tones. This guide demystifies altered dominant chords,...
Major Ninth Interval: Bright Extensions in Modern Harmony
The major ninth interval is a compound interval spanning fourteen semitones, equivalent to an octave plus a major second. This bright, open-sounding interval is a cornerstone of modern harmony,...
Minor Second Interval: The Tension of Adjacent Notes
The minor second, the smallest interval in Western music, spans a single semitone (or half step). It is the most dissonant harmonic interval, creating a powerful sense of tension that …
Secondary Dominants: Adding Color and Direction to Chord Progressions
Secondary dominants are one of the most powerful tools in functional harmony, used to add color, tension, and forward momentum to chord progressions. By temporarily "tonicizing" chords other than the...