Year 10 - Music
Using chord vi and using the bass harmonically
Fundamentals of composition: extended
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Unit Summary
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Lesson Summary
You will learn to develop an idiomatic bass line and modulate a chord sequence into the relative minor key.
Key Notes
- Chord vi is the relative minor chord in a major key.
- It can be used to briefly suggest minor tonality, adding complexity and interest to a chord sequence.
- The bass part is crucial to harmony, because it emphasises key notes in each chord and determines chord inversions.
- It is usually notated in bass clef.
- Using the bass to emphasise root position chords helps to strengthen the harmony.
Vocabulary To Learn
- relative minor: the minor chord or key that has the same key signature as a major key (e.g. A minor compared to C major)
- tonic: chord I - the 'home' note and chord of a key and the note that the key is named after
- dominant: the fifth note in a scale, or the chord based on that note (chord V)
- root position: a chord in which the root note is the lowest note
- chord inversion: when the notes of a chord are reordered so that the root is not the lowest note
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- You should use root position chords sparingly because they sound uninteresting.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
Chord vi is the relative minor chord in a major key. It can be used to briefly suggest minor tonality, adding complexity and interest to a chord sequence.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'relative minor'
the minor chord or key that has the same key signature as a major key (e.g. A minor compared to C major).
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: You should use root position chords sparingly because they sound uninteresting. Correction: Not necessarily. Root position chords are important because they anchor the music in the key. Most chords in a chord sequence should be root position, with some inversions used to add interst and variety.
More Lessons In This Unit
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