Stability / Instability

• stability
• rest, distension
• instability
• motion, tension

• consonances (consonant intervals): stability

• P1
• P8
• triadic intervals (with root)
• P5
• Mm3
• triadic inversions (with root)
• P4
• as inversion of P5
• in close proximity to P5
• in arpeggiated triads
• Mm6
• decreasing stability

• perfect consonances
• P1, P8, P5
• in two-part textures: points of articulation
• imperfect consonances
• Mm3, Mm6
• in two-part textures: between points of articulation
 2

• dissonances (dissonant intervals): instability

• origin: out of melodic activity of contrapuntual voices
• 2, 7, /°
• P4 (upper voice with bass)

• activity (tendencies)

•
• stable tones
• 1
• 8
• 5→4→3→2→1
• 3→2→1
• unstable (or active or tendency) tones
• 6 → 5 or 6 → 7 → 8
• 2 → 1 or 2 → 3
• half steps
• melodic intensifiers
• 4 → 3 (or 4 → 5)
• 7 → 1 (leading tone) (or 8 → 7 → 6 → 5)
 3

- →

• V→I

•
• harmonic motion
• 5 → 1 (roots)
• strongest possible harmonic motion
• contrapuntal motion
• 7→8
• 2→1

•
• harmonic motion
• 5 → 1 (roots)
• strongest possible harmonic motion
• contrapuntal motion
• 7→8
• 2 → 1 or 2 → 3
• (4 → 3)

• fundamental progression: I-V→I

 4

Cadences

• cadence
• succession of chords that marks end of a musical phrase or section
• point of articulation
• changes in rhythm
• cadence is a rhythmic as well as a tonal event
• broadening of time values
• strong beat...
• completion of larger metrical patterns
• coordination of specific soprano scale degrees
 5

• authentic (or full) cadence: AC

• closure on V-I (dominant to tonic both in root position)
• perfect authentic cadence: PAC
• soprano: 2 → 1 or 7 → 8
• bass: 5 → 1

•
• imperfect authentic cadence: IAC
• soprano: 2 → 3 (more frequently) or 5 → 5

•
• contrapuntal cadence (special type of IAC)
• bass: any motion other than 5 → 1
• such as 7 → 8 or 2 → 1
• harmonically weaker than bass 5 → 1

• half cadence (or semicadence): HC

• closure on V (root-position dominant)
• soprano: 3 → 2 (more frequently) or 1 → 7 or 5 → 5

•
 6

• in minor, two common chromatic alterations occur

• dominant will be a major triad, so 7 must be raised to create a leading tone
• tonic harmony that closes a piece will sometimes contain a raised third to
form a major triad (Picardy third)

•
 7

Harmonic Rhythm

• coordination of counterpoint between bass and soprano by meter and rhythm

• leaps of bass compensated by steps of soprano
• bass (harmonic foundation) often contains large leaps
• soprano line moves primarily by step

• harmonic rhythm
• change to new harmony creates accent (harmonic accent)
• harmonic accents usually aligned with metric accents

• coordination of harmonic rhythm with rhythm and meter

• chord changement when moving from a weak to a strong beat

•
• in 3/4
• often harmonic change on beat 3
• accentual pattern of long-short (emphasis of triple meter)

•
• avoid syncopated harmonic rhythm

•
• exception
• in 3/4 at a cadence, dominant enters on
beat 2 and is sustained through beat 3
 8

Phrase

• phrase
• complete musical statement punctuated by cadence

• phrase model
• T → S → D-T (AC) or D (HC)

• although phrase model can occupy any number of measures, 4 measures

(or some multiple of 4) is common

• a phrase is a carefully balanced, goal-directed motion controlled by outer-

voice counterpoint and pacing of phrase model

• phrases often comprise one or more tonic expansions, a pre-dominant, and

either a half cadence or an authentic cadence
 9

Period

• period
• concatenation of musically related phrases: a weakly conclusive phrase
pairs with a stronger, more conclusive phrase (AC)

• antecedent (phrase)
• opening phrase
• instability

• (consequent) phrase
• final phrase
• stability

• parallel periods ( or )
• antecedent and consequent begin with highly similar thematic material

• contrasting periods ( )
• antecedent and consequent with melodically dissimilar phrases
 10

• interrupted period
• pair of phrases with related harmonic structure
• second phrase begins again on tonic
• as if music restarts after being interrupted at half cadence
• notation: interrupted motion with a double slash

•
• only in second phrase does music push through cadential dominant to
attain tonic...

• continuous period
• pair of phrases with single, sweeping harmonic motion
• first phrase has structure T-PD-D
• second phrase, by contrast,
does not begin on tonic;
instead continues away from
tonic
• a favorite device of composers here is to lead to a HC in first phrase but
then follow it with structural pre-dominant to begin second phrase
• in this case, HC is
strongly heard as a
back-relating dominant
(BRD)
• alternate method of creating a
continuous period is to end
first phrase with an authentic
cadence on a harmony other
than tonic, and then continue second phrase on dominant
• again, a single harmonic sweep occurs (second-level analysis),
which is same for both models: T-PD-D-T
 11

• sectional period
• two phrases have cadences IAC and PAC - and each phrase is, in a sense, a
closed harmonic section
• second phrase subtly completes melodic motion by ending on 1...

• progressive period
• two phrases with a weak-strong cadence relationship (HC-PAC) and there
is a key change during course of phrases
• “progressive” label trumps all other labels because it indicates a change of
key...
 12

• formal diagrams
• phrases and periods
• arcs: phrases
• overarching curve: period
• melody
• for phrase 1
• : melodic material
• for phrase 2
• : melodic material similar to phrase 1
• : melodic material different to phrase 1
• harmony
• initial harmony
• cadence
• HC, IAC, PAC
• harmonic interruption
• double slash (//) after HC: phrase 2 restarts with tonic

• period label
• 3 words
• (1) melodic relationship between phrases
• parallel
• contrasting
• (2) harmonic motion of period
• interrupted
• continuous
• sectional
• progressive
• (3) structure
o period
13