Music Theory

  Lesson 32 February 18th, 2022 Lesson 32 Lecture notes: The Neapolitan six is when you take the second degree of a diatonic scale , whether major or minor , lower the root note , and put the said chord in the first inversion . I'll give an example using an F major scale with and without the Neapolitan Six . Without I ( F ,   A   , C ), ii ( G ,   Bb ,   D ), iii ( A ,   C ,   E ) IV ( Bb ,   D ,   F ), V ( C ,   E ,   G ), vi ( D ,   F ,   A ), viio ( E ,   G ,   Bb ), I ( F ,   A ,   C ). With   I ( F ,   A ,   C ), bII6 ( Gb ,   * Bb ,   Db ), iii ( A ,   C ,   E ) IV ( Bb ,   D ,   F ), V ( C ,   E ,   G ), vi ( D ,   F ,   A ), viio ( E ,   G ,   Bb ), I ( F ,   A ,   C ). Lowering the root note in the second-degree triad of the diatonic scale turns it from a diminished chord to a major chord .  The Neapolitan six is a pre-dominant chord and mostly  always precedes a dominant chord . The two chords that function as the dominant are chords f

  Lesson 31 February 11th, 2022 Lesson 31 Lecture notes: Modal mixture is the use of mixing parallel major and minor modes . Composers use this technique to enrich their music with more expressive possibilities . Modal mixture is usually mainly applied to major keys . The modal mixture is achieved in major key signatures by borrowing the parallel minor's flat 3 , flat 6 , and flat 7 . As a result, mixture chords are also called " borrowed chords ." The major diatonic scale and natural minor diatonic scale can interchange chords to achieve a modal mixture . The degrees for the major scale include: I , ii , iii , IV , V , vi , viio , I . the degrees for the natural minor scale ( in this case parallel minor ) include: i , iio , bIII , iv , v , bVI , bVII , i . Minor keys do not offer as many colorful and insightful changes of mode as major keys , but they are commonplace in a chromatic bass line . Mixture chords often serve as a predominant fun

  Lesson 30 February 4th, 2022 Lesson 30 Lecture notes: There are multiple types of variations , inclusive of the continuous variation , sectional variation , figural variation , chromatic variation , textural variation , and timbral variation . The continuous variation is the continuous flow of a musical idea and a Fortspinnung phrase structure. This variation type was widely used in the Baroque era of music. Fortspinnung is the development process of a specific musical motif . First, the motif in question is developed into a complete musical using sequences , intervallic changes , and simple repetitions . There are two different types of continuous variations . Ground bass or passacaglia and chaconne . The ground bass / passacaglia  is when there is a repeating bass line , and only the upper voices change or vary . In the chaconne , the harmonic progression is repeated and varied while the bass remains the same for several successive variations , but it e