MUSC1600 Musicianship 1

Semester 2 2023

Harmony & Keyboard – Week 8 Class Notes

Topics
• Keyboard exercises
• Seventh Chords (Introduction)
• Dominant Seventh V7 chord and its inversions

Reminders:
1. From now on, when you see the words “minor key” in these notes or hear them used in class, we mean
the harmonic minor version of the key. The harmonic minor can be considered as the “default” version
of a minor key. Only use the melodic minor or natural minor when you are explicitly told to do so.
2. Make sure that you are still practicing scales at the keyboard. By the end of week 8, you should be
working with C major, G major, D major, F major, A minor, D minor, G minor. Video demonstrations of
all scales are available in the Blackboard Learning resources folder.

Seventh chords (Introduction)

A seventh chord involves four notes: the root, third fifth and seventh. For example, to build a seventh chord
on C, you should add the notes E, G and B (notice how each of these is placed a 3rd above the previous
note).

There are various kinds of 7th chord depending on whether the lower three notes make a major, minor,
diminished or augmented triad, and whether the 7th itself forms a major, minor or diminished 7th above the
root.

In the following example, the first chord is labelled “M3M7.”

• The M3 means that the there is a major 3rd above the root (here E-G#) which indicates a major triad.
• The M7 means that we also have a major 7th above the root (E-D#).
• Similarly, “M3m7” means a major 3rd (indicating a major triad) and a minor 7th (E-D) above the root.
• Likewise, “d5m7” means a diminished 5th and a minor 7th above the lowest note (the root), while
“d5d7” means a diminished 5th and a diminished 7th above the root. Notice that the last two chords
both have a minor 3rd above the root.

Here are the seventh chords possible on all degrees of a major and a harmonic minor scale:

C: I7 ii7 iii7 IV7 V7 vi7 viiø7

Triad/7th: MM mm mm MM Mm mm dm

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 c: i7 iiø7 III+7 iv7 V7 VI7 vii07

Triad/7th mM dm AM mm Mm MM dd

“Triad/7th” refers to the quality of the triad formed by the lowest three notes (M = Major, m = minor, d =
diminished, A = augmented), plus the type of 7th above the root of the triad.
Therefore, for the first example in C Major, “MM” = a Major triad plus a Major 7th; likewise, “mm” means a
minor triad plus a minor 7th.

Dominant Seventh (V7) Chords

In this course we will only deal with one kind of seventh chord even though many others are possible (which
you will encounter in other courses). The dominant seventh chord (V7) comprises the notes of the triad built
on V with the addition of the seventh above the root of V. We therefore have a major triad and a minor
seventh above the root.

Look at the first example (bars 1–2 only) of the following examples to see typical V7-I progressions in C
major.
• In bar 1, the 7th of the chord of V7 is the note F in the Alto voice.
• In bar 2, F is again in the Alto even though the chord position is V6/5 (the dominant 7th in first inversion).

V7 is often used as a substitute for V during the course of a musical phrase and especially at
Perfect/Authentic and Interrupted/Deceptive cadence points (but V 7 is never used instead of V at a
Half/Imperfect cadence).

As with the other chords we have so far encountered, V7 can be inverted; that is, we have the first inversion
V6/5, the second inversion V4/3, and also the third inversion V4/2.
Remember that the superscript numbers tell us about notes above the Bass (lowest sounding) voice; for
instance, V6/5 means that there is a 6th and a 5th (or their compound equivalents) in the voices above the Bass.

The seventh above the root of V7 requires careful resolution: it descends by step to form the 3rd or 5th of the
next chord (i.e., the 3rd of the chord of I/i or the 5th of the chord of VI/vi). When the dominant seventh chord

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is used in one of its inversions, the voice that has the 7th must likewise descend by step. See the examples
above for illustrations.

The only time when the 7th does not descend by step is when we have V7 repeated with the voices taking
different notes of the chord or changing from root position to an inversion or vice-versa. In this case, the 7th
is transferred to another voice, which will resolve it by descending by step to the next chord.
See bar 5 of the example above where each of the first three crotchet beats has a different position of the
dominant 7th chord. Beat 4 is the resolution to I6.

In summary, The examples above show V7 in root position and in different inversions. For the last of the
examples above (occupying all of the second system), you should identify the key and provide your own
Roman numeral chord analysis.

Practice: Here are some examples with dominant seventh chords written in keyboard format:

Tasks: Write the following progressions in SATB format:

• V7–I in D Major
• V7–i in A minor
• V7–VI in B minor
• V7–vi in F Major
• V6/5–i in E minor
• V6/5–I in Bb Major
• V4/3–I in C Major
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 • V4/3–i in G minor
• V4/2–i6 in A minor
• V4/2–I6 in A Major

In summary:
 Include all four tones (root, 3rd, 5th, and 7th) when writing V7. In some cases, it may be necessary to omit
the 5th and double the root in order to get smoother voice-leading.
 Resolve the 7th of V7 downwards by step to the 3rd or 5th of the next chord. The resolution may be
delayed (or ornamented) by using different positions of V7 before going to the next chord.
 V7 can resolve to either I or vi (or i or VI).
 The dominant 7th chord can be used in first inversion, second inversion and third inversion.
 The inversions of the dominant seventh chord must resolve to the tonic chord I or i or to I 6 or i6 (in
root position or first inversion – look at the examples again to see how).
 In the third inversion, the 7th of the dominant seventh is placed in the bass (the lowest sounding
voice). The third inversion of V7 must resolve to I6 because the seventh (in the lowest sounding
voice) must descend by step (to the third of I6).
 The Half (Imperfect) Cadence must end on the dominant (V) chord, never on V7.

Did you notice the tritone (diminished fifth) leaps in the examples in any of the examples for SATB on page
2? See the last bar of first line in the Bass (notes B-F), and second last bar of second line in the Alto (notes
D#-A).
• These involve the 7th and 3rd (i.e., leading note) of V7.
• Specifically, the 3rd of the chord leaps to the 7th which resolves by dropping a step to the next chord.
• This is an accepted idiom in tonal music practice (even if it might be difficult to sing).

This idiom can also work when the seventh leaps down to the third which resolves upwards (leading note to
tonic). See the bass in the following example:

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Task: Add Alto and Tenor to the following piece. Write the Roman numeral chord indications also. The
asterisks indicate where you should use the appropriate positions of the V 7 chord.

Solution:

Here are some further progressions using the V4/2 progression. You should complete the third and fourth
examples.

Third inversion: V4/2

C: V V4/2 I6 d: V V4/2 i6 i F: V4/2 I6 e: V4/2 i6

Keyboard Practice:
Add the missing notes:
Below are three notes of dominant seventh chords in root position only: two are in the right hand and the
root is in the left hand.
• Identify the key for each example.
• Add the missing chord note in the right hand. This means that your answer will involve playing a
total of three notes in the right hand and one note in the left hand.
• Add Roman numeral chord indications.
• Repeat the exercise: this time, can you play the dominant seventh and then its resolution?

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 Practice Sheet
Question 1:
Resolve each of these dominant seventh chords.
• Identify the key of each exercise
• Write the Roman numeral chord indications with superscripts where needed
• Write the second chord (the chord of resolution) as crotchets in the second half of each bar.

Question 2
For each chord in the following short exercises, first make sure you know which note is the 7th of a dominant
chord and which note is the leading note. Then:
• Write Roman numeral chord indications under each chord

Question 3
For each of the following exercises, study the first two examples for their chord progressions in SATB
format with Roman numerals, then complete the last two examples according to the required key and Roman
numerals.
a)
First inversion: V6/5–I (or i) progressions

C: V6/5 I A: V6/5 I g: V6/5 i b: V6/5 i

b)
Second inversion: V4/3–I (or i) progressions.

C: I6 V4/3 I d: V6/5 V4/3 i G: V4/3 I a: V4/3 i

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 Solutions:

Question 2:
All are root position V7 chords:

Keys: C Major A Major D minor

All examples here use V7–I (or i) progressions.

Keys: C Major A Major D minor

Question 3:
a) b)

g: V6/5 i b: V6/5 i G: V4/3 I a: V4/3 i