How Data is Recorded on the Database

The database currently holds the following information about each chord on each piece of music. See section: 4.1. Reduction of Music to Harmonic Outline for details of the way I’ve delimited chords.

The data held for each chord is shown in the following table. Only the two items marked with an asterisk (*) are used in the Comparative Root Progression Analysis graph. The remaining items are recorded for future use.

Phrase Number	All the phrases are identified and numbered for future use.
Syntactic Element	All the syntactic elements are identified and numbered for future use.
Chord Number	All the chords are numbered for ease of identification
* Chord Name	All the chords are named according to root e.g. Bb = B flat.
* Chord Function	Whether a chord is: a functional chord (blank); a passing chord (P); an appoggiatura chord (G) or an auxiliary chord (A).
Bar Number	The bar where a chord first appears, for identification purposes.
Pedal Note	Records a pedal note if one is present. The pedal note is first recorded against the chord against which it first appears as the consonant bass note and last against the last chord against which it appears as the consonant bass note. This may be used later to investigate the significance of bass pedal notes on root progression analyses.
Inversion	Records the inversion of the chord for possible future analyses. Blank = root position, 1 = first inversion etc. Where a bass part arpeggiates the notes of the chord, I’ve taken the lowest note as the root, rather than the first or most significant note. As this is, to some extent arbitrary, care must be taken in any future use of this data.
Chord Type	I’ve followed the normal English naming of chord types. This includes terms such as: minor, major, dominant seventh, leading seventh, etc. I’ll supply a full list and what they mean (with alternative names) when the information is displayed or used. Note: I’ve only recorded a chord as a 7th chord where the 7th is 'essential' i.e. not arising out of a passing note during the time of chord. Issues about identification of chords are discussed in the Thesis: section: 4.1. Reduction of Music to Harmonic Outline.
Comments	I’ve annotated comments about any issues concerning the chord data. This includes information about suspensions, about incomplete chords or about alternative interpretations of chords or chord data. This will be visible when I make the full raw data available on the site.