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8.6 Chords with altered tones

 

Category: Harmony | Tags: Chords, Triads

Theory

In this chapter you will learn about chords with altered tones. You learn about borrowed chords, Picardy third and the Neapolitan sixth chord. In the exercises, you are going to make borrowed chords and the Neapolitan sixth chord yourself.

1. Altered tones

Altered tones are non-scale tones, tones foreign to a scale. They occur in melodies as well as in chords.

In this chapter, we will review the following chords with altered tones:

  • Borrowing from the minor
  • Borrowing from the major
  • Picardy third
  • Neapolitan sixth chord

2. Borrowing from the minor

Borrowing from the minor affects chords including the sixth tone of the scale - the second degree (II) and the fourth degree (IV).

Borrowing from the minor indicates that the sixth tone of the major scale is lowered to give a minor effect. This lowered sixth tone then resolves to the fifth of the scale. A fragment of a minor scale is inserted into the major scale, as it were.

Borrowing from the minor is notated as bII or IImd and bIV or IVmd.

 

Examples

note example

Borrowing from the minor is not often used on the sixth degree (VI).

3. Borrowing from the major

Borrowing from the major affects chords including the sixth tone of the scale - the second degree (II) and the fourth degree (IV).

Borrowing from the major indicates that the sixth tone of the minor scale is raised to give a major effect. This raised sixth tone is comparable to the raised sixth and seventh tone in the melodic minor scale. A fragment of a major scale is inserted into the minor scale, as it were.

Borrowing from the major is notated asas #II or IIdm and #IV or IVdm.

 

Examples

note example

4. Picardy third

In pieces in minor keys, the final chord is a minor triad (tonic chord). However, pieces in minor keys sometimes end with a major tonic chord. The minor third of the final chord is altered and becomes a major third.

This major third is called picardy third. Picardy third is the major third used into the final chord of a musical composition written in a minor key.

 

Examples

note example

5. Neapolitan sixth chord

The Neapolitan chord is built on the second degree (II) of the major and minor scales.

  • In a minor scale, this chord is made by lowering the root of the second degree.
  • In a major scale, this chord is made by lowering the root and the fifth of the second degree.

The Neapolitan sixth chord is the first inversion of the Neapolitan chord, and is particularly common in minor keys. After 1800, it is also found in major keys. The Neapolitan sixth chord is notated as II6N.

The Neapolitan sixth chord owes its name to its popularity with composers in Napels during the Neapolitan School (1650).

Neapolitan sixth chord in minor keys

  • In A minor, the second degree (II) contains the notes: B D F - this is a diminished triad.
  • B, the root, is lowered by a half step to Bb.
  • The second degree (II) is now: Bb D F; this is a major triad.
  • The Neapolitan sixth chord is the first inversion of the second degree (II) with lowered root: D F Bb.

 

Examples

note example

Neapolitan sixth chord in major keys

  • In C major, the second degree (II) contains the notes: D F A - this is a minor triad.
  • D, the root, is lowered by a half step to Db and A, the fifth, is lowered by a half step to Ab.
  • The second degree (II) is now: Db F Ab; his is a major triad.
  • The Neapolitan sixth chord is the first inversion of the second degree (II) with lowered root and fifth: F Ab Db.

 

Examples

note example

6. Practise

Harmony exercise 8b: practise making Borrowed chords and Neapolitan sixth chord.

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