Harmony

Building Chords &Chord Functions

The Major Scale

• Series of whole and half steps• (major and minor seconds)

Major 3rd

2 whole steps OR 2 major seconds

major 2nd + major 2nd = major 3rd

Minor 3rd

1 whole step + 1 half step OR 1 major 2nd + 1 minor 2nd

minor 2nd + major 2nd = minor 3rd

Major Chords

Major 3rd in the lower half of the chordMinor 3rd in the top half of the chord + =

major 3rd minor 3rd major chord

Minor Chords

Minor 3rd in the lower half of the chordMajor 3rd in the top half of the chord

+ =

minor 3rd major 3rd minor chord

Tonic

• Begins on Do

• Give the strongest sound of the key

• Contains Do Mi or Mi Sol

The I Chord contains Do Mi and So

TonicI Major

The iii chord contains Mi and Sol & is less stable

Mediant Chordiii minor

The vi chord starts on La and has Do and Mi stronger than iii

Submediant chordvi minor

Subdominant

• Important for keeping cadences going

• Contain Fa and La

The IV chord contains Fa and La

Subdominant IV Major

The ii chord starts on Re and contains Fa and La substitution for IV Chord

Supertonicii minor

Dominant

• Contains the leading tone Ti

• Resolves to the tonic

• When it is a dom 7th chord it has Fa

• Fa and Ti is the tri tone resolves to Mi and Do

The V chord is the Dominant Chord Important for cadences

OR

V V7 Dominant Dominant 7th