Diatonic Harmony with Roman Numeral Analysis Handout #3 Music 214 Harmony within the key When we use the musical term diatonic, we mean the notes being used all come from the key. n that way the terms diatonic and key mean much the same thing. For instance, the key of major contains the seven notes of the major scale, D, E, F,, A, and B. Any music said to be diatonic and in the key of only uses combinations of those 7 notes from major. - f a melody is said to be diatonic and in the key of, it only uses the 7 notes of the major scale/key. - f a chord progression is said to be diatonic and in the key of, all of the notes used to build the chords would come from the notes of the key of major. So, an F major triad would be a diatonic chord in the key of because F major contains the notes F, A, and all notes within the key. An F minor triad contains the notes F, Ab, and. Since the key of does not contain an Ab, F minor is not a diatonic chord in the key of. Major Diatonic Harmony - harmony built from the steps of the major scale c c 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Diatonic triads D - E - F A - B o ii- iii- V V vi- vii o Diatonic 7ths Maj7 D -7 E -7 F Maj7 7 A -7 B -7 ( b 5) Maj7 o7 maj7-7 -7 Vmaj7 V7 V-7 V maj7 Adding the 7th to diatonic chords doesn't change their function, but enhances it by adding more color to the chord.
Maj7 D -7 E -7 F Maj7 super-tonic mediant Tonic Sub-Dominant Dominant 7 A -7 B -7 ( b 5) Maj7 sub-mediant leading/sub-tonic The, V, and V are the primary chords and are the most used in contemporary music. All three are major triads. From nursery ryhmes, folk songs, pop, country rock blues, Hundreds of thousands of songs have been written using only these primary chords, and many more using them as the majority of the harmonic progression. an you think of any V V Tonic - the strong home key, the diatonic key center sub-dominant - major 7th quality - serves as temp tonic- plagal cadence dominant - creates instability - needs to be resolved - authentic cadence Harmonic adence... Plagal adence - (V, ), used in many Hymnals, gospel, blues and jazz endings. the final chord on the tonic, which is always major. Authentic or perfect adence - (V7, ), a closing harmonic progression consisting of the dominant chord followed by the tonic chord. most common in contemporary songs. some do not consider a cadence to be completely perfect unless the melody ends on the tonic and both chords are in root position Plagal Authentic V V7
The ii-, iii-, vi- are the secondary chords. All three are minor. The vii diminished is called the leading Tone and wants to resolve up to the tonic. The vii is called the sub-tonic if it is a whole step below the tonic. ex. B flat to. Maj7 D -7 E -7 F Maj7 ii- iii- vi- viio super-tonic mediant sub-mediant 7 A -7 B -7 ( b 5) Maj7 leading/sub-tonic Diatonic ircle of Fifths The circle of fifths encompassing only members of the diatonic scale. f the diatonic triads are arranged in a diatonic circle of fifths, one goes down a fifth on every new chord. The diatonic circle of fifths contains one diminished fifth, the one between the fourth and the seventh degrees. n Roman numerals, the sequence of seven chords (plus the return to ) is as follows:, V, vii, iii, vi, ii, V, key of F B o E - A - D - V viio iii- vi- ii- V key of D # # # # D #o F # - B - E - A D V viio iii- vi- ii- V
4 ommon Diatonic Progressions The Blues - comes in many forms and is the basis of many Jazz, ountry and Rock songs. The most common form of the blues is known as the "12-bar blues" The 12-bar blues form was solidified by urban blues players in towns like hicago and Kansas ity in the late 20's. basic shuffle bass line Here is an example of the most basic 12-bar blues bar 5 V F bar 9 V From this basic 12-bar progression, the blues has hundreds of harmonic variations. One common demoninator of this form is the V chord happens at bar 5.
Melodically the 12-bar blues usually is written in a {A} {A} {B} form. The melody of the first 4 bars repeats for the second 4 bars and then changes for the last 4 bars. {A} j Œ Œ J j Ó {A} F j Œ Œ J j Ó {B} b. j b n Similarly, this this form often happens with the lyrics as well, repeating the first 2 lines with little varition. " hate to see the evening sun go down," "Yes, hate to see that evening sun go down," "ause it makes me think 'm on my last go 'round." W.. Handy's "St. Louis Blues"
The vi- ii- V progression is another popular diatonic harmonic progression that has been used in many styles of music. Most famously used in a large majority of Doo-Wop songs of the 50's and many pop songs from the 40's to rock songs of the 50's and beyond. t is also the basis of the jazz style known as "Rhythm hanges" (based off the ershwin song " ot Rhythm"). 6 This is commonly used as a "Turn-around" at the end of a song to bring us back to the top! vi- ii- V.. A -. D -. One very common varitaion of this progression is to substitute the V chord for the iithis works well because they share 2 common tones. vi- V V A - F Let's do some ear training and listen for variations of this form and other diatonic progressions!