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Functional Harmony

In simple terms, harmony is what occurs when more than one note is played or sung at the same time. This can be as an interval (two notes), or chords of three or more notes.

One way to think about harmony is that it deals with the ‘vertical’ aspects of music, whereas melody and rhythm deal with ‘horizontal’ aspects. As you can see in the example below, only on the final two beats of the measure does harmony appear, and it’s easy to see because there are notes stacked ‘vertically’ on top of each other.

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  1. Consonance has Perfect 5ths and 4ths (G – D or G – C), major and minor 3rds (F – A or F – Ab), and major and minor 6ths (D – B or D – Bb). Consonant intervals and chords produce a feeling of calmness and of rest.

    Here are all the consonant intervals from middle C:

    The major and minor triad chords are also consonant because they’re made of all consonant intervals. For example, in a C Major triad (C – E – G), the C – E interval is a consonant major 3rd, the E – G interval is a consonant minor 3rd, and the C – G interval is a consonant Perfect 5th.

    Most songs begin and end on consonant intervals and chords, because consonance is generally considered ‘relaxed’, and when you play consonant harmonies they don’t feel like they have to ‘go’ anywhere.

  2. Dissonant intervals and chords produce a feeling of tension and movement. Intervals that are dissonant are major and minor 2nds (C – D or C – Db), major and minor 7ths (B – A# or B – A), and augmented and diminished 4ths and 5ths (F – B or F – C#).

    Here is a list of the dissonant intervals from Middle C:

    For example, in C# Major, the interval C# – F is dissonant (Dim4) but the interval C# – E# is consonant (Maj3).

    Dissonant chords and intervals are usually found in between consonant ones, and rarely for very long. They are inherently less ‘stable’ than consonant chords, and so usually when you play a dissonant chord it ‘resolves’ to a consonant chord.

Functional Chords are:

  1. A tonic chord is a chord that is stable, and one that feels like you don’t have to move anywhere from it. Besides the main tonic chord, other chords that could function as tonics are the iii chord (so an E Minor chord in the key of C Major) and a vi chord (A Minor).
  2. A dominant chord is the opposite of a tonic chord. It is a chord you want to move away from, and usually comes right before a tonic. The two chords that are dominant chords are a V (G Major in the key of C Major) and a vii (B dim in the key of C Major)
  3. A predominant chord usually bridges the gaps between tonic and dominant, and adds color to a chord progression. There are two predominant chords – the ii (D Minor in the key of C Major) and the IV (F Maj).

Here’s an example chord progression that shows the proper function of the tonic, predominant, and dominant chords, in the key of E Major:

A chord progression with the function of chords