Harmony And Voice Leading Chapter 1 Key, Scales And Modes

Front 1

1 Key

Back 1

Eg. C
Music is in key when C is the central tone, all other tones are subordinate to it.

Front 2

2 The Tonic

Back 2

Central tone of a key-tonic. Tonic form point of departure and goal.
(does no always finish when we expect it to, so composer enhance feeling of finality)

Front 3

3 Scales

Back 3

Scale occurs when tones that belong to a key are played in order.(latin; scala, steps, staircase or ladder)

Front 4

4 The Octave

Back 4

The interval of eight diatonic degrees between two tones of the same name, the higher of which has twice as many vibrations per second as the lower.

Front 5

5 Major scales; whole steps and half steps

Back 5

One kind of diatonic scale. All diatonic scales contain 5 whole steps and 2 half steps.Each of the different types of diatonic scale has the half steps in different places.

Front 6

6 Intervals

Back 6

In music theory, the term interval describes the relationship between the pitches of two notes.
vertical (or harmonic) if the two notes sound simultaneously
linear (or melodic), if the notes sound successively.

Front 7

7 Chords; triads

Back 7

Block chord: all tones sounding at once
Broken chord/ arpeggios: tones not sounded all at once
Lowest tone called root

Front 8

8 Active tones; stable tones

Back 8

All musical motion directed to goal
All tones in scale except tonic acitve.
3 and 5 can function as stable tones not as stable as 1
Many melodies begin on 3 or 5 rather than 1, if harmonized tonic almost always lowest note.

Front 9

9 Passing tones; neighbouring tones

Back 9

A tone that forms a stepwise connection between two stable tones is called a passing tone.(P)
A tone that moves a step away from and back to a stable tone is called a neighboring tone or simply neighbor (N)

Front 10

10 Half steps as melodic intensifiers

Back 10

When active tone half step from stable tone motion to goal tone strong in character.

4 more strongly attracted to 3 than 5. 7 to 8. The instability of 4 and 7 in major hellps to strengthen 1 and 3 and leads to clear definition of the key. Thus 7 - leading tone

Front 11

11 Incomplete neighbours; double neighbours

Back 11

We use the term incomplete neighbor (IN) to denote neighboring tone connected with one rather than two main tones.
Two neighbors ocurring together are called a double neighbor (DN).

Front 12

12 Transposition; Key signatures

Back 12

Recapitulation - returning to the opening idea. Usu. In same key
Transposing- putting a piece (or section) of music into another key.
Key signature- often new notes appear as accidentals (sharps/flats within measures.