372 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



nant, sub-dominant, sapertonic, mediant, and so on, is a great 

 help to the study of harmony, and also tends to prevent the 

 objectionable practice into which many harmonists fall of thinking 

 only in the key of C. 



Another aid, and it is hoped a material aid, will be found by 

 employing the symbols for chords suggested in this paper. They 

 have been contrived so as to keep before the eye of the student as 

 much information about the chord as possible. The form of the 

 symbol tells him the contents of the chord, and its position tells 

 him the relation of that chord to the other chords of the scale, 

 and to the chords of all related scales, and how it should be modified 

 to become a chord of any other scale. Great care has been taken 

 to frame the symbols so that as many useful associations as 

 possible shall be created by them, and in such a way as to blend 

 naturally with the other associations which enable a student to 

 master the intricacies of musical analysis. 



For this purpose a straight line is used to designate a major 

 chord, a curved line a minor chord, and a loop is used for the im- 

 perfect triad. Three positions also are employed — a vertical 

 position, one sloping upwards, and one sloping downwards. 



This enables us to represent with great simplicity the chords 



of a major key : — I represents the chord of the tonic (1) or 

 d m s of the Tonic Sol-faists), / represents the chord of the 

 dominant (S or s t r), and \ the chord of the sub-dominant 



(F or f 1 d). The minor chords are represented as follows :— ) 



chord of the sub-mediant (L or 1dm), ^ chord of the super- 

 tonic (K or rf 1), and J the little-used chord of the mediant 



