There has been a few threads in this forum about chromaticism and in particular, chromatic harmony.
So I thought it might be useful to post up a few chromatic progressions to demonstrate just how these techniques are used in REAL music and how they sound.
I havent dealt with augmented 6th chords in this tutorial, as I THINK most are familiar with those, right? They were covered in the other tutorial, were they not?
So without further a do, here are the mp3s:
http://download.yousendit.com/5677B46864C169ED
01. Secondary Dominants
Here are three progressions using secondary dominant chords to strengthen the diatonic chord (Im not including figured bass in the roman numerals btw):
The first progression, in C Major:
- I, IV, V7/V, V7, I
- C, F, D7, G7, C
The second progression, in C Major. Notice the chromatic mediant relationship between C and E (I, V/vi):
- I, V/vi, vi, V, I
- C, E, Am, G, C
The third progression, in C Major. Notice the chromatcism in the voiceleading, producing an augmented tonic chord in the fourth bar:
- (I, V, I, I+) (IV, V/vi, vi, V7/V, V7) I
- (C, G, C, Caug) (F, E, Am, D7, G7) C
The forth example uses secondary dominants in series. Each chord moves to another dominant a fifth away, causing a sort of cumilation effect when the V chord finally resolves to I:
- I, V/vi, V/ii, V/V, V, I
- C, E, A, D, G, C
Before we leave secondary dominants, dont forget that they can be substituted just like other chords! So diminished chords and their inversions can be used in substitution. You'll often see this is jazz music - vii substituting V so that the bass can move chromatically.
02. Tonicization
Tonicization is the process of reinforcing a chord to give it comparible 'srength' of the tonic. Usually a secondary dominant chord is used to tonicize a diatonic chord. But sometimes composers go further and make the tonicization almost a brief modulation. How these are perceived is subjective. Some might feel that the new key has fully taken over, in which case the modulation is complete. Some may remain to feeling draw to the home key.
A fine example of this technique can be seen in Chopin Op28 No20, where he uses a series of (I, IV, V, I) or (i, iv, V, i) in related keys, while to my ears, remaining in the tonality of C.
The fifth progression in C Major, uses a tonicization of the relative minor (D minor) in bar three leading up to the authentic cadence in 'C' Major. First a substitute secondary dominant (vii/ii) leads into the tonicization, where a perfect cadence reinforces the 'ii' key, before leading into a perfect cadence in the home key. Imo, the home tonality of 'C' is never lost. Also notice how the 'ii' precedes 'V' in the cycle of fifths, so in a way, the tonicization of 'ii' kind of creates the perfect tension for the 'V-I' cadence:
- (I, V, I) (V, I) (vii/ii, ii, V/ii, ii) (V, I)
- C, G, C G, C C#dim, Dm, A, Dm G, C
The sixth progression in C Major tonicizes 'vi' in bar two, and also uses secondary dominants leading up to the cadence.
03. Some other chromatic chords
The next three progressions feature major and minor chromatic medient relationships, and a major tritone relationship.
- I, bIII, I, bIII, I, V, I
- C, Eb, C, Eb, C, G, I
This one in E Minor,the progression we were debating on the other thread, no less! Beings as most people liked to think of the chord as 'vi', Im happy to use that analysis here:
- i, vi, i, vi, i
- Em, Cm, Em, Cm, Em
And a Major tritone relationship in C Major:
- I, #IV, V, I
- C, F#, G, I
04. Borrowed Chords
Another way to consider chromatic chords is that they are 'borrowed' from other modes within the same tonality. So for instance, if you were in C Major, you would you a chord from C minor.
In this last progression in C Major, I have used 'iv' borrow from C minor. This is a classic sound, as has been used endlessly. But it still sounds great! Notice once again the chromatic mediant relationship between Fm and Am towards the end of the progression:
- (I, iv/i, I, G) (I, iv/i, vi, V) I
- C, Fm, C, G C, Fm, Am, G C
Hope this answers a few questions for those just getting into chromatic harmony
TB
