3. Method of Working
Before I go any further, I will define what I mean by the root of a chord in a chord progression analysis. What I mean is that note which is the lowest note in a chord once the chord has been rearranged into its fundamental triadic (or 7th, 9th, 11th or 13th) structure.
The following shows three chords and their shared common root:
Similar examples could be shown for 7th and 9th chords etc. but as the idea of deriving chord roots will be familiar to most readers, I will not labour this point any further. This concept is similar to Rameau's historical concept of the fundamental bass.
Root progressions are therefore chord progressions taking account of the way the roots of their chords move. Root progressions may be analysed as diatonic or chromatic progressions. Carried out diatonically, there are 6 possible chord progressions. If carried out chromatically, there are 11 possible chord progressions. The diatonic option has the disadvantage of grouping together chord progressions involving major and minor intervals (for example, falling major 3rds and falling minor 3rds) and grouping together perfect and augmented or perfect and diminished chord progressions (for example, rising 4th and rising augmented 4th) but has the important advantage that the chord progressions are more clearly related to their tonal context.
The analysis will be made on a diatonic (rather than chromatic) basis for two reasons:
- All major theorists (including Rameau, Schoenberg and Schenker) have taken the view that the tonal system is primarily diatonic.
- Research carried out by both methods suggests that diatonic analyses yield more consistent results than chromatically based analyses.
Root progressions are thus defined diatonically as belonging to one the following 6 types:
- Rising 2nd (falling 7th) e.g. C major to d minor
- Rising 3rd (falling 6th) e.g. C major to e minor
- Rising 4th, (falling 5th) e.g. C major to F major (the perfect cadence)
- Rising 5th (falling 4th) e.g. C major to G major
- Rising 6th (falling 3rd) e.g. C major to a minor
- Rising 7th (falling 2nd) e.g. d minor to C major
Once the piece has been reduced to an appropriate harmonic outline, this analysis will look for patterns in two main ways, as follows:
- Is there an order of preference for the possible types of chord progression?
- Do the chord progressions show any groupings such as:
- pairing of progressions?
- clustering of progressions?
- other types of grouping?
I will then show that there are also longer range patterns that are similar to grammatical structures in language.
The analysis of root progressions is shown in full in Appendix B. Only a few simple symbols are used, as follows. Others will be explained as they are introduced in the text.
Chord roots are shown below the piano part as an upper case letter where the chord is major and as a lower case letter where the chord is a minor chord. For example, 'a' refers to an A minor chord and 'A' refers to an A major chord. Diminished chords are indicated by a ' ° ' symbol. For example, ' b° ' indicates a B diminished chord. Sevenths are not indicated in the analysis as these are not found to be determining factors in the root progression analysis. Other symbols will be explained as they are introduced.
Ver 2.3