The Functions of the Six-Four Chord in Tonal Music

Beach, David

doi:10.2307/842947

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…1, the second-inversion ending yielded higher average ratings than did the first inversion. Indeed, while standard textbook pedagogy teaches that second-inversion chords are more unstable than the other two inversions (Beach, 1967;Parncutt, 2011;Rosner & Narmour, 1992), it seems musically plausible that such a progression could indeed continue with a second-inversion tonic triad (i.e., extending the cadential sequence). Particular connections between participant responses and the frequency with which specific inverted chords end these sequences is the focus of Experiment 3.…”

Section: D) Average Responses To Each Inversion and Progression In Ex...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Chord Inversion and Bass Patterns on Harmonic Expectancy in Musicians

Schwitzgebel

White

2021

Music Perception

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This study tests the respective roles of pitch-class content and bass patterns within harmonic expectation using a mix of behavioral and computational experiments. In our first two experiments, participants heard a paradigmatic chord progression derived from music theory textbooks and were asked to rate how well different target endings completed that progression. The completion included the progression’s paradigmatic target, different inversions of that chord (i.e., different members of the harmony were heard in the lowest voice), and a “mismatched” target, a triad that shared its lowest pitch with the paradigmatic ending but altered other pitch-class content. Participants generally rated the paradigmatic target most highly, followed by other inversions of that chord, with lowest ratings generally elicited by the mismatched target. This suggests that listeners’ harmonic expectations are sensitive to both bass patterns and pitch-class content. However, these results did not hold in all cases. A final computational experiment was run to determine whether variations in behavioral responses could be explained by corpus statistics. To this end, n-gram chord-transition models and frequency measurements were compiled for each progression. Our findings suggest that listeners rate highly and have stronger expectations about chord progressions that occur frequently and behave consistently within tonal corpora.

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Section: D) Average Responses To Each Inversion and Progression In Ex...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Chord Inversion and Bass Patterns on Harmonic Expectancy in Musicians

Schwitzgebel

White

2021

Music Perception

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“…Normally, one would think its root is quite unambiguous. But when a simple C chord appears in second inversion (GCE) and resolves to a dominant triad (GCE–GBD), the chord is (or can be) heard as a cadential 6/4 with root G (Beach, 1967). Relative to that reference pitch, the sixth above the bass (E) falls by step to the fifth (D), and the fourth(C) falls to the third (B).…”

Section: History Of Chord Root Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

The missing fundamentals of harmonic theory: Chord roots and their ambiguity in arrangements of jazz standards

Parncutt

Radovanovic

2021

Musicae Scientiae

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Since Lippius and Rameau, chords have roots that are often voiced in the bass, doubled, and used as labels. Psychological experiments and analyses of databases of Western classical music have not produced clear evidence for the psychological reality of chord roots. We analyzed a symbolic database of 100 arrangements of jazz standards (musical instrument digital interface [MIDI] files from midkar.com and thejazzpage.de ). Selection criteria were representativeness and quality.The original songs had been composed in the 1930s and 1950s, and each file had a beat track. Files were converted to chord progressions by identifying tone onsets near beat locations (±10% of beat duration). Chords were classified as triads (major, minor, diminished, suspended) or seventh chords (major–minor, minor, major, half-diminished, diminished, and suspended) plus extra tones. Roots that were theoretically less ambiguous were more often in the bass or (to a lesser extent) doubled. The root of the minor triad was ambiguous, as predicted (conventional root or third). Of the sevenths, the major–minor had the clearest root. The diminished triad was often part of a major–minor seventh chord; the half-diminished seventh, of a dominant ninth. Added notes (“tensions”) tended to minimize dissonance (roughness or inharmonicity). In arrangements of songs from the 1950s, diminished triads and sevenths were less common, and suspended triads more common, relative to the 1930s. Results confirm the psychological reality of chord roots and their specific ambiguities. Results are consistent with Terhardt’s virtual pitch theory and the idea that musical chords emerge gradually from cultural and historic processes. The approach can enrich music theory (including pitch-class set analysis) and jazz pedagogy.

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“…29 During his tenure, several articles of a Schenkerian nature appeared, including Travis 1959 andits polemical response, Oster 1960;Oster 1961;Mitchell 1962; an analysis symposium on Mozart's Menuetto in D, K. 355, that included Oster 1966;and Beach 1967. In the years that immediately followed, other Schenkerian articles appeared, including in further "analysis symposia," in which different analyses of the same piece were published together. 30 It is difficult to calculate how many articles JMT has published, to date, that have been devoted at least in large part to Schenkerian issues, as such a tally rests on subjective assessments as to what constitutes a "Schenkerian article."…”

Section: Dissemination Through Journalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Schenkerian Theory in the United States. A Review of Its Establishment and a Survey of Current Research Topics

Berry¹

2005

ZGMTH

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The Functions of the Six-Four Chord in Tonal Music

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

Effects of Chord Inversion and Bass Patterns on Harmonic Expectancy in Musicians

Effects of Chord Inversion and Bass Patterns on Harmonic Expectancy in Musicians

The missing fundamentals of harmonic theory: Chord roots and their ambiguity in arrangements of jazz standards

Schenkerian Theory in the United States. A Review of Its Establishment and a Survey of Current Research Topics

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