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By Aron Bernstein 8 Comments

Weekly Music Theory Challenge: 1/10/22

Show off your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This week’s challenge:

Voice leading often demands that you omit a note in a chord. In any dominant seventh chord, which note is the best to omit?

a) The root?

b) The 3rd?

c) The 5th?

d) The 7th?

Check back on Friday, January 14th to see if you’re right!

ANSWER for 1/10/22

c) The Fifth. A dominant seventh chord needs its third and its seventh because these are the tendency tones, whose resolution is crucial. We also need the root, because that’s the note that defines the chord. Without the root, it becomes a diminished triad. It’s true that V7 and vii diminished are interchangeable as approaches to I, but V7 gives a more solid authentic cadence. So the only expendable note in a dominant seventh chord is the fifth, the least active tone. Without it, we still have the defining note and the tendency tones that make a dominant seventh chord really function.

Want to Learn More?

With Breaking Barlines you learn music theory the right way: fun, holistic, and with a personal touch! Have a look at the complete Breaking Barlines Course! Then sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all video lessons, worksheets, and answer keys. New lessons are always added, so stay tuned!

By Aron Bernstein 11 Comments

Weekly Music Theory Challenge 10/18/21

Show off your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This week’s challenge:

This is the end of Chopin’s powerful Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48, No. 1 The excerpt begins with him shaping up to have a typical authentic cadence, but it’s shattered when we get to the red rectangle. What is the harmony there, and where does it lead us? Hint: think about how this chord should be spelled, and notice how it’s actually spelled!

Listen to Audio: Chopin Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48, No. 1

Reply to post your answer, and check back on Friday, October 22 to see if you’re right!

ANSWER for 10/18/21

Chopin has taken the German augmented sixth chord in C minor and reinterpreted it as the dominant of the Neapolitan key (bII). Below at left is a typical authentic cadence preceded by a German 6th; the F sharp in the bass resolves up to G (FI up to SO in solfege) as it should. But at right Chopin has respelled that F sharp in the bass as G flat. Now the chord is no longer a German 6th, but a plain old Ab dominant seventh in third inversion, resolving to D flat Major in first inversion (N6 or bII6).

Listen to Audio

This reinterpretation is possible because a German 6th is enharmonic with a dominant seventh chord. Until you see how they’re spelled–or hear how they resolve differently–they both sound the same! Chopin’s reinterpretation of the German 6th creates a wonderfully jarring deceptive cadence, taking us to the remote world of the Neapolitan before heading back home.

Want to Learn More?

With Breaking Barlines you learn music theory the right way: fun, holistic, and with a personal touch! Have a look at the complete Breaking Barlines Course! Then sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all video lessons, worksheets, and answer keys. New lessons are always being added, so stay tuned!

By Aron Bernstein 3 Comments

Weekly Music Theory Challenge 9/7/21

Show off your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This week’s challenge:

When writing in four voices, what’s the best note of an Italian augmented sixth chord to double?

  • A) The Root
  • B) The Third
  • C) The Sixth

Hint: choose the option that avoids parallel octaves.

Reply to post your answer, and check back on Friday, September 10th to see if you’re right!

ANSWER for 9/7/21

B) The Third. The Italian sixth is the only augmented sixth chord with only three notes, so in a four-voice texture one of them has to be doubled. If you double either the root or the sixth, you get parallel octaves. The only note in the chord that can resolve either up or down is the third, so this is the best note to double. On the staff below, we have an Ab Italian sixth resolving to the V chord in the key of C minor. The third of the Italian sixth, C, can either resolve up to D or down to B. So the alto and tenor double this third, avoiding the parallel octaves you’d get by doubling either the root or the 6th.

Want to Learn More?

With Breaking Barlines you learn music theory the right way: fun, useful, and with a personal touch! Have a look at the complete Breaking Barlines Course! Then sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all video lessons, worksheets, and answer keys. New lessons are always being added, so stay tuned!

By Aron Bernstein 4 Comments

Weekly Music Theory Challenge 8/16/21

Show off your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This week’s challenge:

Below is a German Augmented Sixth Chord resolving to V in the key of C or C minor. Can you spot the voice-leading problem? What is it, and what’s the best way, in classical music, to avoid it?

Reply to post your answer, and check back on Friday, August 20th to see if you’re right!

ANSWER for 8/16/21

Go to Cadential 6/4 First!

The German 6th is the only augmented 6th chord that contains a perfect 5th (seen here in the bass and tenor voices). Going straight to the V chord results in a nasty case of parallel 5ths. For this reason, the German 6th typically does not resolve directly to V.

The most common solution, in classical music, is to resolve the German 6th to I 6/4 (the cadential 6/4). As seen above, this ensures that the perfect fifth in the bass and tenor is broken up before finally resolving to the V chord. This eliminates the parallel 5ths seen at left.

Parallel Fifths
Parallel Fifths Avoided

Want to Learn More?

With Breaking Barlines you learn music theory the right way: fun, useful, and with a personal touch! Have a look at the complete Breaking Barlines Course! Then sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all video lessons, worksheets, and answer keys. New lessons are always being added, so stay tuned!

By Aron Bernstein 7 Comments

Weekly Music Theory Challenge 8/9/21

Show off your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This week’s challenge:

What kind of scale produces both an A-flat dominant seventh chord and a B half-diminished chord (B minor seventh-flat fifth). Hint: add all the notes together!

Reply to post your answer, and check back on Friday, August 13th to see if you’re right!

ANSWER for 8/9/21

This is the OCTATONIC scale, also called the half step/whole step diminished scale. It’s built from alternating half steps and whole steps, for a total of eight different pitches within the octave:

This scale opens up harmonic avenues that are not possible with diatonic major or minor scales. Here are the chords from this week’s theory challenge:

The 20th Century French composer Olivier Messiaen called this scale a mode of limited transposition. Unlike major or minor scales, it can only be transposed a limited number of times before you end up with the exact same pitches. Major and minor scales can be transposed to every one of the twelve chromatic pitches within the octave, each giving a different set of notes. But the half-whole-half octatonic can only be transposed three times before all the pitches repeat. So the octatonic scale above, starting on B, has the same pitches as the ones starting on D, F, and A-flat. Notice those four starting notes–B, D, F, A-flat–spell out a diminished seventh chord, a harmony readily available in the octatonic scale.

Want to Learn More?

Have a look at the complete Breaking Barlines Course! Then sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all video lessons, worksheets, and answer keys. New lessons are always being added, so stay tuned. I created Breaking Barlines with one thing in mind: making music theory effective and FUN!