CHAPTER 2 (PART 1)
STATIC AND DYNAMIC HARMONY
Introduction
In the last chapter, I introduced the concept of static and dynamic harmony and their importance in the construction of syntactic structures. In this chapter, I will further explore the nature of static and dynamic harmony and explain how the form of these can vary according to the period in which the music was written.
In order to retain interest throughout their execution, all temporal art forms: music, the novel, theatre, cinema etc. must vary their degree of tension and relaxation. When you watch a play or a film, observe how the tension varies, at one moment static: scene setting, mood establishing, character introducing and then at another moment dynamic: something happens, tension is built up, what will happen next? The mood constantly alternates between these static and dynamic states. This is necessary to maintain the interest. These states are easy to identify once you know about them. They vary in length and in the degree of tension or relaxation but they are always there.
In music, these static and dynamic episodes are created by the use of different types of harmony. A prolongation of a single chord creates a sense of being stationary. I will refer to this as static harmony. Progressions of chords create a sense of moving forward. I will refer to this type of harmony as dynamic harmony. As well as varying the tension in music these episodes form the basic building blocks or syntactic elements that are necessary to make syntactic structures similar to those in language.
Static Harmony
The simplest form of static harmony is the sustained tonic chord. In the following example, the tonic F chord is sustained for two bars:
The same chord may be sustained over several bars. The Prelude to Wagner's Rheingold is made up entirely of a sustained E-flat harmony which lasts for 136 bars. However, the most common type of static harmony is that made up of an oscillation between the tonic chord and other chords. The most commonly used chords for this purpose are the primary triads: chords IV and V, as follows:
I - [ IV ] - I
and
I - [ V ] - I
The square bracket will be used to indicate that a chord is used (in this case in conjunction with the tonic) to form static harmony. This type of chord will be referred to as an auxiliary chord by analogy with the auxiliary note. An auxiliary note is a non-harmony note that returns back to the harmony note. These are further discussed in chapter 3 (part 2). These auxiliary chords do not create chord progressions since they always return to the chord which precedes them. Example 1.1. in chapter 1. included chord V as an auxiliary chord. The following example also uses chord V as an auxiliary chord:
In this example the dominant auxiliary chords are deployed in root position and take on a role almost equal in importance to that of the tonic chord. This type of tonic-dominant oscillation is very common and is deployed in many well know melodies.
In the harmonic outline, white notes (semibreves) indicate notes which make up the main notes of the triad and black notes (crotchets without heads) indicate notes that are added to the basic triad. In this case, a 7th is added to the dominant chord (chord V).
The purpose of these auxiliary chords is to prolong the tonic (or sometimes the dominant) harmony. They do not create a forward moving chord progression.
The following example demonstrates the use of both chord IV and V as auxiliary chords:
The appearance of the tonic chord in root position whilst the chord IV auxiliary chords are employed in second inversion emphasises the subordinate nature of the chord IV auxiliary chords in this example. It is for this reason that I have shown these chords with black notes in the harmonic outline. In contrast, the two occurrences of the chord V are in root position. The harmonic outline indicates the inversion of each auxiliary chord.
In this example the IV chords could be interpreted as simply the result of auxiliary notes and not functional chords in their own right: the G-sharp and B of the tonic chord ascending to form the A and C-sharp of the subdominant chords at bar 7, 8 and 9.
There are thus two types of auxiliary chord:
a) Functional chords (normally in root position) that take on an important function in the phrase
b) Non-functional chords that arise mainly as a result of auxiliary notes.
In either case, theses chords create static harmony. This distinction is not important at this stage but will be discussed further in the next chapter. The main difference is that the first type can take on further elaboration.
In the 19th century harmonic possibilities are extended by the use of chords II and VI as tonic prolonging auxiliary chords. In the following example, Schubert uses chord II7 in the minor key:
Here, again, the static nature of the harmony is emphasised by the retention of the tonic note in the base. This is usually referred to as a tonic pedal. Note that since the II7 chord arises as a result of the auxiliary and passing notes in the accompanying harmony, the 7th of the chord is relieved of its normal obligation to resolve downward. Pedal notes are frequently used under static harmony to underline the static nature of the chord movement. Pedal notes can be deployed under any auxiliary chords regardless of whether the tonic note forms a normal part of the auxiliary harmony.
I've indicated the cadential 6 4 chord in the harmonic outline as black notes with tails (crotchets). This is to highlight the fact that they do not alter the underlying chord succession. Non-functional chords such as these will be explained in chapter 3.
In the following example, Brahms uses VI to form static harmony:
It can be seen from these examples, the choice of auxiliary chord in the static harmony contributes to the style of the piece of music.
The range of auxiliary chord possibilities can be further extended by the use of chromatic chords. Examples of these are given later in chapter 3.
The full book will also contain examples of static harmony from Elgar and Puccini (who use chromatic harmonies to make up static harmony)
Ver 2.3.