Jump to content
HAPPY NEW YEAR, TO ALL OUR HARMONY CENTRAL FORUMITES AND GUESTS!! ×

minor functional harmony?


Recommended Posts

  • Members
Posted

A question that I scratch my head over for quite a while now, thought I ask you fine folks..

 

All stuff I found about functional harmony used the major scale and their chords as the reference. My problem is that I don't play songs that are writtten in major. The stuff I play and write is minor. Most aeolian, but also phrygian and dorian.

 

How does the functional harmony goes along with modes (or at least with aeolian)?

 

To bring it to the point: The chord on the second scale degree is called "supertonic". In major this function name even makes sense. In aeolian however it's the infamous dimished chord. It's function is *entirely* different to my ears. When I play it I hear a strong dominant thing going on.

 

Nils

 

(btw, googled around about functional harmony. it's amazing how little usefull stuff you find about it)

  • Members
Posted

"How does the functional harmony goes along with modes (or at least with aeolian)? "

 

Well, it doesn't go along with the modes; modal harmony is a different animal altogether.

 

With the minor, remember that the Aeolian mode is not exactly a 'minor key', since it lacks a Dominant, which is why we have the melodic/harmonic minor forms. So, we change the v to a V to make that i chord the tonic. Otherwise, we hear the III in the Aeolian mode (in A minor, this is the C major chord) as the tonic. (which is why the Aeolian mode is not the same as a 'minor' key).

 

As for the other harmonies, because of the various forms of the minor scale, there are more options than you'll find in a major key. However, you specifically asked about the iidim (or iim7b5) chord, which is a special case...

 

In major, the viim7b5 harmony really doesn't have its own function; it is perceived as a 'rootless dominant'. In the key of C, the Bdim (B D F) is the 3rd, 5th, and 7th of a G7, and Bm7b5 (B D F A) is the 3, 5, 7, and 9 of a G9 chord. So, when you say there's a strong dominant thing happening, you're hearing things correctly! In a minor key, the iidim is usually used as a Dominant.

 

 

Does that make sense?

  • Members
Posted

In folk/rock/pop music, the ii chord generally isn't used in a minor key. In "standard" American muisc - classic Broadway show tunes - and in jazz and Brazilian Bossa Nova, the ii in a minor key is commonly used in the ii min7 b5 - V7 b9 - i min progression. That's just the minor version of the ii min7 - V7 - I progression in major keys.

 

As stated above, that has nothing to do with modes - it's just major and minor harmony.

 

 

Here's a few examples.

 

 

Black Orpheus

 

Blue Bossa

 

Round Midnight

 

Yesterdays

 

You Don't Know What Love Is

Posted

 

Originally posted by bassmantele


Here's a few examples.



Black Orpheus


Blue Bossa


Round Midnight


Yesterdays


You Don't Know What Love Is

 

 

Great answer. Add to that Autumn Leaves and that's pretty much all there is to functional minor key harmony.

  • Members
Posted

Thanks for the answers, folks.

 

I understand how functional harmony works with major. Learned it a couple of years ago, and it helped me to understand the concept of tonic, subdominants and dominants. That's an important thing to know. All the advanced harmony (jazz theory and stuff) boils down to the three functions.

 

So functional harmony is really only a tool to introduce students to the tonic, subdominant and dominant concept, right?

 

It does not has any practical use when I jam, write a song or analyze something.

 

Nils

Posted

 

Originally posted by edeltorus


It does not has any practical use when I jam, write a song or analyze something.


Nils

 

 

Not necessarilly. When jamming, if the band is just playing an Am vamp, you could spice it up by implying an E7 to Am progression in you lines.

 

When writting, you can use functional harmony just like in major; it's a tool for organizing chords in a way that make most sence in a progression.

 

And for analying, if the piece does in fact use functional harmony, it will tell you right away what's going on in the song so you can solo over it more easily, or you can use the progression in your own songs.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...