User:Aura/Aura's Ideas on Chords

Introduction

Given all the things covered in the last few articles, a discussion on chord formation and chord progressions is long overdue. Most musicians today think of chords as being primarily tertian harmony, however, things weren't always this way. In Medieval harmony, the ideal sonority was basically a trine consisting of R-P5-P8 or, more rarely, R-P4-P8. Strangely enough, the first type of trine occurs directly in the harmonic series as 2:3:4, while the first true triad occurs as 4:5:6:8, with the seventh harmonic skipped. As I see value in both types of harmonies, and especially extended harmony, I propose that the ideal sonority in a Bass-Up context- particularly for a Tonic chord- is basically 1:2:3:4:5:6:8. However, it would not be wise to ignore previous traditions, so in order to establish this new style for seven-voice harmony, it pays to borrow from both Medieval and Neo-Medieval harmony on one hand, and Common Practice harmony ranging from Baroque to Romantic on the other.

Types of Center

Given that this style requires borrowing from the modality of Medieval and Neo-Medieval harmony, as well as from the tonality of Common Practice music, concepts from both styles need to be imported and defined in relationship to each other in this new style. What is interesting is that both Medieval and Neo-Medieval music on one hand and various forms of Tonal music on the other feature what can be called a "center", which can serve multiple possible functions.

The Structure of the Ideal Seven-Voice Chord

Considering that the aforementioned ideal Tonic chord has no fewer than seven voices, it pays to look at the components of the 1:2:3:4:5:6:8 sonority.

The first voice- which, in a Bass-Up context, is the lowest- will be called the fundamental after its position in the harmonic series in this article. This portion requires almost an entire octave of space all to itself in which it has largely free reign, and the second voice can only encroach on the fundamental's turf in certain situations as demanded by voice-leading.

The second, third and fourth voices, are the three voices directly above the fundamental in a Bass-Up context and comprise the prop, seeing as these voices prop up the remaining voices situated above them. The voices of the prop generally act much like a Medieval trio in terms of how they change from sonority to sonority, and even rely heavily on quartal and quintal harmony, and thus, the ideal configuration for these three voices is the 2:3:4 trine.

The fifth, sixth and seventh voices, the highest three voices in the chord when in a Bass-Up context, comprise the crown. Only the crown is given to the kind of tertian harmony seen in Common Practice music, and this is true even in its relationship to the highest voice of the prop, and a third in any other part of the chord requires resolution due to the demand for space amongst the fundamental and the prop.

From there, one can backtrack and derive the ideal Dominant chord. Specifically, the fundamental has a tendency to "want" to be the root of any given chord, while the prop wants to approach the trine by means of a directed progression in the Medieval style. The crown, however, needs to both reinforce the root and fill in the remaining notes of the chord that are not covered by the fundamental and the prop, as well as approach both the Tonic and Mediant via stepwise motion. Thus, the ideal Dominant chord in this style can be described as being 36:54:81:90:128:144:180.