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common chord

Ramsay
The common chord is a group of notes which come together by generic affinity, much like the chemical combinations of our system of atoms. The common chord is a triplet, and in the progression from one chord to another these triplets have always something in common; by the law of continuity one of the notes of the chord first is also found in chord second; and chord second also finds one of its notes in chord third. This is the way Nature gives them to us [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 48]

a minor third. So by adding the middle of the minor dominant, G, but made G#, that the third so produced may be a minor third, according to the nature of the chromatic chords, we have on this minor side of the chord G#, B, D, F, which we may call its minor form, inasmuch as the semitone of its second minor third is the one, B-C, which genetically arises in the minor genesis; and inasmuch as it has also received its supplemental G# from the minor dominant. How shall we find its complement on the other side? We have seen that D, the Janus-faced center of this triad, B, D, F, looks, as D27, toward the major also; it has already F in common with the major subdominant. The very next step is to the middle of this chord, A. Middles, we have just seen, are ever ready to accommodate themselves; and this minor third triad claims that A be flattened, for on this side also, though its major side, it must have a minor third; so by adding the middle of the major subdominant, A, but made A?, according to the nature of chromatic intervals, that this F-A? also may be a minor third; and now we have it as B, D, F, A?, which we may call its major form, inasmuch as the semitone of its minor third, E-F, is the one which genetically arises in the major genesis, and inasmuch as it has now received its supplemental A? from the major subdominant. This, then, is the chromatic chord in its native place, and in its native constitution; a 4-note chord, wholly of the minor thirds. It will be observed that it has now, in its two forms, divided the octave into minor thirds - 4 minor thirds, so it is very much at home anywhere in the octave; indeed it is at home everywhere - G#, B, D, F, A?. And as every diatonic common chord in music is constituted of materials found in the octave of notes, it cannot be far from a chromatic chord in some one of its forms. [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 55]

See Also


bridge
diatonic common chord

Created by Dale Pond. Last Modification: Wednesday October 28, 2020 05:01:49 MDT by Dale Pond.