2

I was reading some of Ted Greene's work and came across this PDF

http://www.tedgreene.com/images/lessons/chords/RomanticHarmony.pdf

In it, he goes from a vi6 chord (this 6 doesn't mean first inversion, it means the chord with an added major sixth, in this case spelled tonic-major sixth-minor third-fifth) to a I chord. I.e. from a Cm6 chord (spelled C-A-Eb-G) to Eb (spelled Bb-Bb-Eb-G).

I can't understand how this makes sense in the context of tonal harmony. Any help?

Improve this question
12
  • I don't know a lot about this, but one thing that is immediately clear is the major sixth of the vi6 chord is a leading tone to the fifth degree of the tonic. Another question is why that's not called a half diminished 7th chord instead.
    – Todd Wilcox
    Dec 1 '17 at 23:11
  • 1
    Oh, a half diminished seventh has the diminished fifth and the minor seventh. There should be a name for the chord with a minor third, perfect fifth, and diminished seventh.
    – Todd Wilcox
    Dec 1 '17 at 23:35
  • I'm not sure I understand, by diminished seventh you mean minor 7th?
    – folouer of kaklas
    Dec 1 '17 at 23:53
  • 1
    @ToddWilcox -- "There should be a name for the chord with a minor third, perfect fifth, and diminished seventh": parallel with minor major seventh would be minor diminished seventh.
    – ex nihilo
    Dec 2 '17 at 11:30
  • 1
    @DavidBowling - reason I posted is that minor major seventh can't be the same as minor diminished seventh, as one has m7, the other d7, which gives a different note, not only in name, but sound. Agreed, the 'm6' could be 'md7', but not mM7.
    – Tim
    Dec 3 '17 at 11:29
3

My guess is that he harmonized the 4th mode of Bb Major: the Eb lydian scale is a whole-tone tetrachord, a perfect fifth and a major tetrachord which gives us only two alterations Eb and Bb. In this case the vi chord would have a major 6th. Now i'm not sure vi6-I is a common modal cadence in Lydian (I would have thought II-I was) because the #IV degree (a half-diminished chord) is usually not used, nor is the raised fourth used as the fourth tone of a vi tetrad for that matter.

Improve this answer
3

An alternative analysis is to treat the tonic in your specific instance as a passing second-inversion to IV. e.g.

Cmin added 6 - Eb 6/4 - Ab

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.