Timeline for Definition of Functional Harmony
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
20 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 26, 2019 at 1:09 | answer | added | Max | timeline score: 1 | |
| Apr 25, 2019 at 15:39 | answer | added | Laurence | timeline score: 1 | |
| Sep 18, 2018 at 15:37 | comment | added | Basstickler | @HeatherS. - Thanks for the insight. I think this could be posted as an answer instead of a comment and you could get some credit for it. I certainly understand how a deceptive cadence functions and the amount of resolution it is capable of providing, however, I'd think that the actual tonic should be getting the resolution for it to really qualify, not just a tonic substitute or a tonic functioning chord. In the case of this progression, it still doesn't really feel like a cadence though. | |
| Sep 18, 2018 at 15:27 | answer | added | Basstickler | timeline score: 2 | |
| Sep 18, 2018 at 6:00 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackMusic/status/1041929950922788864 | ||
| Sep 18, 2018 at 3:17 | comment | added | Heather S. | In functional harmony, vi is a tonic substitute anyway - and strongly so, since it contains the tonic and major median. I would argue the progression does fulfill it's desire for the V to go to the "tonic." The leading tone finds its rest in the tonic note in the vi chord. That's why deceptive cadences work, and why the name "deceptive" is so fitting. | |
| Sep 18, 2018 at 3:13 | comment | added | Heather S. | To my ear, Ionian pieces that end with a plagal cadence sound modal, not major. When it is used as a real cadence and not just as an "amen" at the end of a major hymn that already concluded with a V-I cadence, the entire chord progression is structured differently so that IV can go to I and feel finished rather than having it seem like a chord is missing. The differences in how chords are used within the key seems to me to be the deciding factor between whether a progression is major or modal. A IV-I ending would sound out of place in a piece that made much use of the leading tone throughout. | |
| Sep 17, 2018 at 16:42 | answer | added | Michael Curtis | timeline score: 7 | |
| Sep 17, 2018 at 16:36 | comment | added | Basstickler | And harmonic and melodic minor are alterations to the minor scale, most commonly used to provide the leading tone that I am ranking so highly in the consideration of functional harmony. | |
| Sep 17, 2018 at 16:35 | comment | added | Basstickler | @Tim We generally refer to those as minor modes, ie, modes that have a minor tonality. I'm fairly certain that this would be colloquial usage. We're definitely somewhere near the line of semantics and practicality. I generally like to make the distinction between Dorian and minor, however, not everyone I play with would find that to be a valuable distinction (nor understand the difference), so I usually only mention it in passing to them, if at all, while still keeping it in mind for myself or clarifying it for those that understand. | |
| Sep 17, 2018 at 16:12 | comment | added | Tim | But Dorian is minor! Along with Phrygian and obviously Aeolian! That's because there's a m3 available from the root. They're going to be 'minor' because of that. And of course there's always harmonic and melodic. All minors, with some minor differences... | |
| Sep 17, 2018 at 15:52 | comment | added | Basstickler | @Tim - I see what you did there with the amen and I thank you for it. I don't think that Ionian being the most frequently used is really justification for synonymity. When I was studying functional harmony in college, I did often see that pieces would end in a plagal cadence, however, throughout the rest of the pieces, as I recall, there would be plenty of perfect cadences as well. People obviously use Ionian and major synonymously but I think that's more colloquial than definitive. Similarly, people will often refer to pieces in Dorian as being minor. | |
| Sep 17, 2018 at 15:34 | answer | added | user45266 | timeline score: 2 | |
| Sep 17, 2018 at 15:32 | answer | added | Todd Wilcox | timeline score: 12 | |
| Sep 17, 2018 at 15:22 | comment | added | Tim | Although the Ionian is sort of a mode taken from the old Aeolian, it's now the most used, so yes, I would consider them synonymous. In fact, it's usually taken that the Ionian is the parent key of the other modes using the same notes. A perfect cadence is not the only one ending in I. The plagal, as you mentioned, also does, and also signifies an ending, which the other two cadences don't really do. Amen to that... | |
| Sep 17, 2018 at 15:10 | comment | added | Basstickler | @DavidBowling - Thanks for sharing that link. Overall it seems like many in that discussion have the same issue I'm having. The main difference I see there is one that has come up here on SE, where there seems to be an issue with whether or not Tonality and Functional Harmony are synonymous. It seems that it would make more sense to not think of them as the same thing, where I'd argue Modal and Functional music are distinct but Modal music is Tonal, in that there is a tonal center. | |
| Sep 17, 2018 at 15:07 | comment | added | Basstickler | @Tim - They certainly have the same notes but I would definitely say it is entirely possible to have a song in Ionian that would not best be described as being Major, which is really the crux of my question. I'd be curious to hear you elaborate on your thoughts about not requiring a perfect cadence and the potential of Ionian and Major being synonymous. | |
| Sep 17, 2018 at 14:04 | comment | added | user39614 | I would think of that progression as functional, since it sounds like the chords are moving away from a tonic and back again. I think of modal harmony as more static, with little in the way of chord movement (or really, with chords that are more incidental). But, here is a discussion of modal harmony that has at least one respondent near the top who talks about this very progression, and agrees with you. Interesting question; I look forward to some definitive answers...;) | |
| Sep 17, 2018 at 13:58 | comment | added | Tim | There doesn't have to be a perfect cadence, and, isn't the Ionian mode exactly the same as the major scale as we know it? | |
| Sep 17, 2018 at 13:36 | history | asked | Basstickler | CC BY-SA 4.0 |