music theory for musicians and normal people by toby w.

rush

Borrowed Chords
altered chords use notes outside
how does a composer decide which
altered notes to use? in a major key,
one possibility is using notes and chords
the scale as a means of adding a
from the parallel minor.
different color to the chord.

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for example, the following chords are diatonic chords in c minor:

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borrowed?
why call them
that when major
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never brings
them back?
c: ii ii7 III iv VI vii7

hey, minor!
but if we use them in a major key, they require accidentals and are
Ill have them therefore altered chords. we call these borrowed chords because they

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back by tuesday
are borrowed from the parallel minor.

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this time, I

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promise!

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some theorists C: ii ii7 bIII iv bVI vii7
refer to the use
of these chords as
mode mixture. two of these chords,
and, in fact, these six chords the flat three and flat six,
have altered tones as roots.
are the six most commonly used
we place a full-sized flat symbol
borrowed chords in the common before the roman numeral itself
practice period. (One of them, the to indicate this altered root.
major triad on the lowered mediant,
or flat three, was not used much

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by composers before

wait... why? since we
the romantic era.)
double the root,
moving both roots

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all the usual part-writing rules apply to these the same direction 5

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chords. for example: can often result in
parallel octaves. 8

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V
6 the borrowed supertonic is a
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ii diminished triad, and is therefore
always used in first inversion.
its more important to
avoid parallelism than

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to resolve the notes
a certain way, so this
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ii7 7
the borrowed seventh chords motion is better.
can be used in any inversion, but the bVI V
seventh must be approached
and resolved properly. vii
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the picardy third is a major tonic
chord at the end of a minor piece, so
many theorists consider it a borrowed

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its usually best to resolve altered chord. really, though, its not adding
notes in the direction of their chromatic variety... its a last-minute
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alteration, but doing so in the two
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modulation!
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altered root chords wont work.

named for
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the leading-tone fully diminished 24th-century

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explorer
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seventh is the king of dominant
jean-luc
function. dont even think of
picard!*
resolving it to anything but tonic! g: i V7 i VI ii6 V I
*Nope.
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