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