MUSIC. 



107 



Sounds which differ in pitch when heard at the 

 same time, produce an ettV ct which is either agree- 

 able or the contrary. When two or more sounds, 

 heard at the same time, produce an agreeable effect, 

 sucli a combination is called a chord ; but if the effect 

 be disagreeable, such combination of sounds is called 

 a discord. A succession of chords in proper order, 

 interspersed here and there with discords, according 

 to certain fixed laws, constitute harmony. Any note 

 and its unison, octave, fifth major, fifth minor, third 

 major, third minor, sixth major, or sixth minor, will 

 form a chord ; to which list some are disposed to add 

 the minor fourth. The following scale will show the 

 exact quantity of the intervals used in harmony, by 

 the numbers they contain of tones major, tones minor, 

 and semitones, which we shall denote by T, t, S. 



The octave contains 3 T, 2 t, 2 S 



The minor second IS 



The major seventh 3 T, 2 t, 1 S 



Grave major second It, 



Acute minor seventh 3 T, 1 t, 2 S 



Major second 1 T, 



Minor seventh 2 T, 2 t, 2 S 



Diminished third 2 S 



Redundant Sixth 3 T, 2 t, 



Redundant Second from 1 T, and 1 t, take 1 S 



Diminished seventh 2 T, i t, 3 S 



Grave minor third 1 t, 1 S 



Acute major sixth 3 T, 1 t, 1 S 



Minor third 1 T, IS 



Major sixth 2 T, 2 t, 1 S 



Major third 1 T, 1 t, 



Minor sixth 2 T, 1 t, 2 S 



Diminished fourth ....1 T, 2 S 



Redundant fifth 2 T, 2 t, 



Minor or perfect fourth 1 T, 1 t, 1 S 



Major or perfect fifth .2 T, 1 t, 1 S 



Major fourth 2 T, 1 t 



Minor fifth 1 T, 1 t, 2 S 



Among chords there are different degrees of agree- 

 ableness. The unison is the most perfect relation 

 that can subsist between two sounds, and next to this 

 is the octave. In point of perfection, next follows 

 the major fifth ; so named in contradistinction to the 

 minor fifth, which is called imperfect. There are 

 several technical terms employed to distinguish the 

 tones of a piece, which it may be necessary for us here 

 to explain, although it is our wish as much as possi- 

 ble to avoid the introduction of them into our pages. 

 The tonic, or key note of a melody, is that tone which 

 predominates throughout, and on which either the air 

 itself or its bass must terminate. The dominant is a 

 perfect fifth above the key note, and receives this 

 name, as it is understood in some measure to govern 

 the key note. The fifth below, or what is the same 

 thing, the fourth above the key note, is called, for a 

 similar reason, the subdominant. The leading note, 

 or sharp seventh, is always a major third above the 



dominant ; and therefore, when it occurs in the minor 

 mode, it must be preceded by an accidental sharp, or 

 natural. The mediant is either a major or minor third 

 to the tonic, and the submediant is a major or minor 

 sixth, according as the mode may be major or minor. 

 The supertonic is the second above the key note. 

 When any tone and its third major, or minor, 

 together with its perfect fifth, are sounded together, 

 the combination is called a common chord, and to 

 this combination the octave may be added, making 

 perfect harmony, and the name of the chord and its 

 perfection remain unaltered, provided there be no 

 alteration in the key note. Thus we have the chords 

 of C major and A minor. It will be observed that 

 the tones which constitute these chords are also agree 

 ble in succession. 





If the lowest note in the chord of C be made E, 

 the chord then becomes what musicians call a sixth, 

 as the key note is a sixth above it ; and in like man- 

 ner, had the lowest note of the chord of C been G, the 

 chord would have been called a fourth. These two 

 last mentioned chords are inversions of the common 

 chord, and they have all the same fundamental note 

 or tonic, which is called the fundamental bass, being 

 that on which all the others are formed. The com- 

 mon chord is sometimes denoted by figures placed 

 under the notes of the bass, as 3 or s or 3. The 

 chord of the sixth is figured 6, and the fourth, *. 



Before proceeding farther on the subject of chords, 

 it will be necessary to make the reader acquainted 

 with the nature of discords. The minor seventh is 

 by far the most simple of discords, and may be ex- 

 pressed thus : 



This is in the major scale of C, and the lowest note 

 of this combination is therefore a fifth above the 

 tonic or key note, and wherever this discord is intro- 

 duced it must be so ; from which circumstance it is 

 sometimes called the dominant seventh. As in the 

 case of the common chord, the position of the notes 

 may be altered, but if B be made the bass note, i. e. 

 the lowest, the result will be a chord, and not a 

 discord. 



Thus we have by inversion the combination con- 

 sisting of a minor third and imperfect fifth, together 

 with a sixth minor. 



In like manner, D and F may be used as the bass 

 notes in the foregoing combination, and chords will 



be the result. The three chords being figured, as pated fifth, third, or second, as the case may^be 



shown in the examples, are all derived from the 

 seventh, and are frequently denominated a synco- 



