CHAPTER I
PRIMARY TRIADS
PROGRESSIONS
USING THE PRIMARY TRIADS
A
succession of chords is called a progression. The creation of these
progressions is the subject of our harmony studies. The simplest but very
important progressions are called cadences.
CADENCES
The primary triads are: I (tonic), IV (subdominant), and V (dominant). A strong and
satisfactory cadence can be
constructed by the use of these chords. Every phrase ends with some kind of a
cadence.
A cadence is an
ending that defines the tonality or key. The primary triads contain all the
notes of the scale, therefore, they do not leave us any doubt about the
tonality. If you want to create a
strong and non-ambivalent ending you should include all the three types of
functions (Tonic, Dominant, Subdominant) since two only do not determine the
key completely. For example, the C-E-G
and G-B-D chords can be found not only in C major but G major as well; but if
you add F-A-C the only key possible is C major - therefore the tonality is
absolutely clear. See the following example:
You can add either F or F#
to complete this scale but the resulting key will be C major or G major, respectively! C major is the only
possible key since these three triads contain all notes of the C major
scale!
For ease of understanding I will give all examples in the key of C
major and a minor. It will be easier to compare the examples and to
remember the most important points. However, in your exercises you should use
all keys. Keeping everything in C major and a minor might
place some of the examples in a less comfortable vocal range. This is a
sacrifice we have to make in order to keep things simple. You should
understand that for this reason the range of some of the exercises would not
conform to the normal voice range of a choir.
Examples
taken from classical musical works will, of course, retain the original key.
When
you write in choral style you should keep in mind the natural range of choir
voices. The normal voice ranges are shown below (approximately):
Soprano: C4 - A5
Alto: G3 - E5
Tenor: C3 - A4
Bass: F2 - D4
[C4 = middle C on the piano]
When
you write for keyboard, these ranges do not have to be observed strictly.
NOTE:
It
is important to know that in many choral music publications the Tenor is
written in treble clef and an
octave higher than it actually sounds. Sometimes you can see a little number 8
below the treble clef, at
other times you are just expected to know this. Do not get confused about this and
always take it into consideration when writing or analyzing harmonies written
this way. You can see this in a section
below from my Kardtánc (Sword Dance) written for
mixed choir and piano:
The actual pitch of the
Tenor line of the
above selection can be seen below:
THE MOST IMPORTANT TYPES OF CADENCES
AUTHENTIC (perfect) (e.g. I-IV-V-I or simply V-I)
PLAGAL (
e.g. I-V-IV-I or more commonly IV-I)
IMPERFECT (e.g. I-V)
DECEPTIVE
(e.g. V-VI)
Let us look at examples of
these in the three different starting positions. For the sake of simplicity we
will use C major and a minor in these cadences.
1.
AUTHENTIC (PERFECT) CADENCE
EXERCISES:
ü
Play these examples in
all keys (major and minor) and in all three starting positions.
ü
Write these examples in
the choral form (Soprano and Alto in the treble clef, Tenor and Bass in bass
clef).
The following examples show similar cadences written
in the chorale style. Note the direction of the stems and that the voices are
further apart (i.e. in the open
position).
Take a look at a few
examples of the authentic cadence from various compositions.
Below is a section of a
choral composition by Gastoldi for five voices (SSATB):
Another example in minor key:
Although a
complete cadence includes a
subdominant chord before the dominant and closing tonic often we see endings
where only the V – I appears. This also creates a satisfactory ending in
most cases, especially when the tonality is not in question.
During your harmonic analysis you will find that in most
cases (especially in piano music) the cadences do not appear in their simplest
form. First of all, the number of voices may be more or less than the customary
four you have seen in chorale harmonizations. Secondly, often the chords are
broken up in various
patterns or
rhythmically altered some way. Finally, “alien” notes decorate the chords. You
will have to be able to recognize the harmonies despite these complications.
Let us look at a few examples:
(The V7 chord will be explained later)
Often we find pieces
written for two voices only. After studying this
book you will be able to determine the harmonies even under these
circumstances. Later you will see that in four-part harmony the fifth of a
chord may be missing occasionally. The root and the third is a good indication
of the harmony in most cases. Take a look at the next example:
2. IMPERFECT
CADENCE
(sometimes called Half Cadence)
In
the broad sense any cadence that does not end with a tonic chord can be
considered imperfect. In everyday terminology we call imperfect only those
cadences that end on V.
These
cadences are the most common in the classical melody construction of two
phrases; one like a Question and the other like an Answer. The
first phrase ends with an imperfect cadence while the answer is perfect. We
will explain this in depth later in Part IV, Musical Forms – The Period
chapter.
EXERCISES:
ü
Play these examples in
all keys (major and minor) and in all three starting positions.
ü
Write these examples in
the choral form (Soprano an Alto in the treble clef, Tenor and Bass in bass
clef).
Study the following
examples of the imperfect cadence from various compositions:
Next you can
see a complete composition by Gastoldi for a five-voice choir (part of it was
previously shown). The chord symbols appear at the cadences. You can find both
perfect and imperfect cadences in this example. Label them appropriately!
3. PLAGAL CADENCE
While the most common ending that we can find in the classical
period of music is the Authentic or (Perfect) cadence; quite often you will
find that the primary triads follow each other in a different order. If the
final tonic chord (I) is preceded by a subdominant chord (IV), the resulting progression will have a very
different feeling and is called a Plagal cadence. It is unusual to have all three functions present as
shown below – more often the V does not precede
the subdominant IV.
NOTE: The concept of
authentic and plagal steps will be explained in Chapter XVII, GENERAL
CONSIDERATIONS.
Minor key
NOTE: V-IV progressions are very
seldom found, although you can see one in the previous madrigal by
Gastoldi. I include them in this
example to show how different they sound from the authentic cadences.
The marked V – IV sounds unusual because of the augmented
fourth (tritone) step between the outer voices. This kind of step is
well tolerated in the inner voices but less acceptable in the outer voices
(Soprano and Bass).
EXERCISES:
ü
Play these examples in
all keys (major and minor) and in all three starting positions.
ü Write these examples in the choral style starting in
open position (Soprano and Alto in the treble clef, Tenor and Bass in the bass
clef)
Now let us look at a few
examples of the plagal cadence from various compositions.
The next is the ending
of a well-known madrigal by a 16th century composer:
EXERCISES:
ü
Find plagal
cadences in your own music material!
4. DECEPTIVE CADENCE
I want to
mention here briefly the deceptive cadence as
well (some books call it interrupted cadence). We will work more thoroughly with this
in the next chapter when we examine the other triads (connecting the V with a VI requires doubling the third of VI instead of the root).
The
deceptive cadence got its name because it is substituting the real tonic chord with another – VI – that has a similar function but still
does not constitute a satisfactory ending in the home key. It “deceives” the
listener. The deceptive cadence has a nice, surprising effect (if not used too
often) and requires further continuation of the progression – thus it can be
used as a means to extend the composition by another phrase.
Third
doubled
Look at
the next few examples of deceptive cadences. The first one taken from Bach’s Invention
in d minor is the simplest form it can take. Although there are only
two voices the harmonies V and VI are still clearly recognizable.
The
next excerpt from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro is another example how the
deceptive cadence could be used to extend the composition:
Pamina’s g
minor aria from The Magic Flute by Mozart is a simple V7-VI progression, which is the most typical.
Although we did not discuss the V7 chord as yet (it contains one extra note – a seventh
from the bass) the effect is the same.
NOTE: Other
chords - not just the VI - can also
be used in a deceptive cadence. The following example is taken from the same
aria, just a few bars later:
