Sixth chord
The term sixth chord refers to two different kinds of chord, the first in classical music and the second in modern popular music.[1][2] The original meaning of the term is a chord in first inversion, in other words with its third in the bass and its root a sixth above it. This is how the term is still used in classical music today, and in this sense it is also called a chord of the sixth.[3]
In modern popular music, a sixth chord is any triad with an added sixth above the root as a chord factor.[4] This was traditionally (and in classical music is still today) called an added sixth chord or triad with added sixth[5] since Jean-Philippe Rameau (sixte ajoutée) in the 18th century. It is not common to designate chord inversions in popular music, so there is no need for a term designating the first inversion of a chord, and so the term sixth chord can be used in popular music as a short way of saying added sixth chord. When not otherwise specified, it usually means a major triad with an added major sixth interval (a major sixth chord). However, a minor triad is also used, together with the same interval, resulting in a minor sixth chord (also known as minor major sixth).
History
In early music, what is today called a sixth chord or first inversion in classical music was considered an autonomous harmonic entity with the root named by the bass, while it was later simply considered an inversion of a chord with the bass being the third (not the root) and the root being the sixth (not the bass). In jazz, this form is referred to as a major sixth chord.
Alternatively, rather than as a six three chord, the note a may be analyzed as a suspension or appoggiatura, "first resolved and later...retained as a part of the chord, no resolution taking place.":[6]
The dominant chord's fifth may be substituted by the chord's sixth, analyzed as its thirteenth:[7]
In popular music
What in popular music is called a sixth chord was traditionally called an "added sixth chord". As the name suggests, this is a triad with an added sixth interval. It is generally built on the sub-dominant note (fourth scale degree), although it can be built on any note. Typically, the triad is a major triad and the additional sixth interval is major (major sixth chord). For example, a major sixth chord built on C (denoted by C6, or CM6) consists of the notes C, E, G, and the added major sixth A
In jazz, the minor sixth chord (sometimes: minor major sixth, or minor/major sixth)
Examples which feature sixth chords include: The Beatles' "The Fool on the Hill", Styx's "Babe", and Steely Dan's "Bad Sneakers".
Special kinds of sixth chords
The Neapolitan sixth is the first inversion of a major triad built on the flattened supertonic (second degree of the scale) – a Neapolitan sixth in C major, therefore, consists of the notes F, A♭ and D♭.
There are a number of augmented sixth chords. Each of them has a major third and augmented sixth above the bass. When these are the only three notes present, the chord is an Italian sixth
Sixth, sixth chord, and added sixth
In music, the sixth factor of a chord is the note or pitch six scale degrees above the root or tonal center (see sixth chord). When the sixth is the bass note, or lowest note, of the expressed chord, the chord is in third inversion
Conventionally, the sixth is third in importance to the root, fifth, and third, being an added tone. It is generally not allowed as the root since that inversion resembles a seventh chord on the sixth rather than an added tone on the original note. In jazz chords and theory, the sixth is required due to its being an added tone.
The quality of the sixth may be determined by the scale or may be indicated. For example, in a major scale a diatonic sixth added to the tonic chord will be major (C–E–G–A) while in minor it will be minor (C–E♭–G–A♭).
The sixth is octave equivalent to the thirteenth. If one could cut out the notes in between the fifth and the thirteenth and then drop the thirteenth down an octave to a sixth, one would have an added sixth chord (C–E–G–B♭–D′–F′–A′ minus B♭–D′–F′ = C–E–G–A).
See also
References
- ↑ Music: The Listener's Art, p. 113
- ↑ Keith Wyatt and Carl Schroeder (1998). Harmony and Theory: A Comprehensive Source for All Musicians, p. 82. ISBN 0-7935-7991-0.
- ↑ Piston, Walter (1987). Harmony, p. 66. ISBN 0-393-95480-3.
- ↑ Miller, Michael (2005). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory, p. 119. ISBN 978-1-59257-437-7.
- ↑ Piston, p. 359
- ↑ Miller, Horace Alden (1930). New Harmonic Devices, p. 51.
- ↑ Miller (1930), p. 52.
- ↑ Cope (1997). Techniques of the Contemporary Composer, p.40-41. New York, New York: Schirmer Books. ISBN 0-02-864737-8.