Year 10 Music GCSE - Harmony and Tonality

Diatonic

Using notes of prevailing key or scale

Chromatic writing

When other notes as well as notes belonging to a prevailing key or scale are used

Consonance

Kind of harmony sounding agreeable, pleasant and comfortable

Dissonance

Clashing harmony or notes

Pedal

Sustained or repeated note played whilst harmonies change, usually in the bass

Drone

Sustained or repeated note, often with another note, whilst harmonies do not change

Cadence

Pair of chords in which the harmony marks the end of a phrase

Cadence analogy

Punctuation at the end of a sentence: a perfect cadence, like a full stop, gives a definite end to phrases whereas an imperfect cadence, like a comma, is unfinished; can show the sentence is not quite finished

Perfect cadence chords

V - I

Imperfect cadence chords usually

IV - V

Interrupted cadence aka., and why

'Surprise' cadence, sounding unexpected and unfinished

What chord VI, used in an interrupted cadence, is always in a major key

Minor

Interrupted cadence chords

V - VI

Plagal cadence aka.

'Amen' cadence

What the plagal cadence is like, part of punctuation analogy

A full stop but not as strong

What harmony involves

Combining more than one note

Two factors to consider when combining multiple notes to make a pleasant sound

Chords and keys

Tierce de Picardie

When a passage of music in a minor key resolves on the major version of chord I

Three of many different types of compositions a chord sequence can be the starting point for

Song, instrumental piece or film track

Two things a chord sequence can evoke

A particular mood or atmosphere

Semitone

Smallest interval between two notes

Semitone aka.

Half-step

Chromatic scale

When semitones are played one after another in order, up and down

Number of semitones between root and third in a minor triad

Three

What augmented and diminished chords sound more than major and minor triads

Unstable

What diminished and augmented chords add can be used to add to your music

Harmonic interest and tension

Augmented triad

Major triad with the fifth moved up by a semitone

Two notations for an augmented triad with root R

R + or R aug

Three ways an augmented chord can be used

As a 'stepping note' between other chords, a substitute for chord V and to add a sense of ambiguity or unpredictability

Two adjectives describing a mood notes of an augmented chord could create

Eerie and sinister

Augmentation can involve what getting bigger

An interval

What diminished chords are used to create, and what in

Interest in a chord progression

What there are different types of, regarding chords

Augmented and diminished chords

Diminished triad

Consists of a minor third and diminished fifth; all notes are a minor third apart

Two things diminished chords can be used to create / bring

Smooth progression between two chords and harmonic interest

Diminished seventh

Four-note chord that is the diminished triad with a diminished seventh. In other words, three minor thirds on top of each other

Half-diminished seventh

Four-note chord that comprises a root note, minor third, diminished fifth and minor seventh (rather than diminished seventh)

Inversion

Chord with notes rearranged so that a different note is in the bass

Root position

When lowest note in a chord is the root

Root

Note that is the basis for a chord, regardless of its inversion

Position in which strongest version of a chord will be and the one you will use most often

Root

Chords in first and second inversion are not as -, and why

Stable, as the root note has moved away from the bass

What chords in first and second inversion being less stable means

You might only use the a handful of times, or not at all

Purpose of inversions

Makes a chord sequence easier to play and can give a smoother bass line which can be more pleasant to listen to

Notation of chords in popular genres, and three examples

Use letter names e.g. Gm, D and Fsus4

How major chords are written

In upper-case roman numerals

How minor chords are written

In lower-case roman numerals

Two, out of the four main cadences, more common ones

Perfect and imperfect

How perfect cadences make a phrase or piece of music sound

Strong and complete

Imperfect cadence

End on chord V, used mid-phrase and makes music sound incomplete

Three most common chords preceding before V in an imperfect cadence

I, ii and IV

What a plagal cadence sounds, although lacks compared to a perfect one

Finished, drive

What cadences are generally written using

Root position chords

Why cadences are usually written using root position chords

First and second inversion chords and weaker - root position chords give a strong bass line

What you do to a minor scale to make it melodic minor when ascending

Sharpen 6th

What you do to a minor scale to make it melodic minor when descending

No sharp 7th like in harmonic, so effectively flatten it

What chords in the key are called and example name

Diatonic chords e.g. G major diatonic chords

Plagal cadence

Sounds finished and always returns to the tonic

Accidentals

Sharps, flats and naturals used so that the key signature can be retained no matter which note you start on

What all musical pieces are based on

Scales

What a scale indicates

Notes available from that key for the composer to use

Learn content on this webpage https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zbqbxyc/revision/1

Complete!

Learn content on this webpage https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zbqbxyc/revision/2

Complete!

Learn content on this webpage https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zbqbxyc/revision/3

Complete!

Learn content on this webpage https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zbqbxyc/revision/4

Complete!

Learn content on this webpage https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zbqbxyc/revision/5

Complete!

Learn content on this webpage https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zbqbxyc/revision/6

Complete!

Notes in dominant seventh chord

Root, third, fifth and minor seventh

Root a dominant 7th is typically built upon

5th degree of scale being used - the dominant

Notes when adding seventh to the dominant in key of C. This is great to use in compositions

G, B, D and F

What you need in the new key when you modulate

A perfect cadence

Two places you need to understand, use in composition, and may have to recognise in an exam, how to modulate to

The dominant and relative major or minor

Four answers that would appear in a question regarding the tonality of a piece

Major key, minor key, atonal or modal

Tonal centre

Specific note around which a piece of music is organized

Atonal

Music composed without a key or tonal centre

Practice singing a major scale

Complete!

Practice singing a harmonic minor scale

Complete!

Mode

Very distinctive ancient scale, each with a different structure of tones and semitones, unlike major and minor scales - though they sometimes sound like a mixture of the two

Difference between major and minor scales and most modes, regarding interval between leading note and tonic

In major and minor scales, there is a semitone between 7th and 8th notes of the scale, whereas most modes have a tone between those notes

What the tone interval between 7th and 8th notes in a mode gives the music

A distinctive character which you should listen for

In ancient Greece, modes were identified and -

Given names

Four types of music that sound modal

Ancient, medieval, folk and some world music

Dorian mode

Flattened third and seventh compared to major scale starting on the same root

Phrygian mode

Flattened 2nd compared to natural minor scales beginning on the same root

Aeolian mode

Same as the natural minor with the same root!

Mode of Drunken Sailor - use this as an opportunity for some listening, turning it into a major melody and playing them both and noting different sounds

Dorian

Chord I can be substituted with chord -

VI

'Block' chords can be changed into a -

Simple accompaniment

When a piece of music in either a major or minor key modulates to the dominant, the music will contain either -

One more sharp or one less flat

Modulation

Where music changes key

From what key you may have to recognise modulations from in exams

The tonic

Still learning (23)

You've begun learning these terms. Keep up the good work!