chord identification understanding voice-leading style awareness The ToolKIT, which is accessible from all pages of the site, outlines the three main analytical skills that TonalityGUIDE.com aims to develop. It also links to a short introduction to the study of tonality as well as a reminder of some basics (note and interval labels, clefs and transpositions).

Introduction & Palestrina

Bach

Haydn

Debussy

An Example of Stylistic Change: The Added Minor Seventh

Haydn (minuet from late eighteenth century string quartet)
Later composers felt able to break away from treating the minor seventh as a dissonance with strict voice-leading restrictions.

In the short example below, the seventh (G natural) in the viola part is not approached by descending stepwise motion, as in the previous examples, although it does still resolve in this way. The relaxing of voice-leading restrictions allows the seventh to appear as a chord in its own right and it is repeated three times before it resolves. Although the voice-leading is less strict, this seventh chord characteristically resolves onto a triad chord a fifth below, here as a cadential progression from V7 to I. It is characteristic of the style for seventh chords to resolve in this way (or as part of an interrupted cadence).

information and orientation as you browse around TonalityGUIDE.com chord identification understanding voice-leading style awareness