Ninth chord

In music theory, a ninth chord is a chord

that encompasses the interval of a ninth
when arranged in close position with the
root in the bass.[1]

Dominant ninth
 Ninth (C9) vs added-
ninth chord (Cadd9),
Voice leading
distinguished, in Dominant ninth
for dominant
academic textbooks chord in four-
ninth chords in
and jazz & rock sheet part writing[4]
the common
music, by the Play (help·info
practice
[2] presence or absence ).
period.
of a seventh.[3]
Play (help·inf
Play (help·info)
o)

There is a difference between a major

ninth chord and a dominant ninth chord. A
dominant ninth is a dominant chord (and
minor seventh) with a major ninth. A major
ninth chord (e.g., Cmaj9), as an extended
chord, adds the major seventh along with
the ninth to the major triad. Thus, a Cmaj9
consists of C E G B and D play (help·info).
When the symbol "9" is not preceded by
the word "major" or "maj" (e.g., C9), the
chord is a dominant ninth. That is, the
implied seventh chord is a dominant
seventh, i.e. a major triad plus the minor
seventh, to which the ninth is added: e.g., a
C9 consists of C, E, G, B♭ and D
play (help·info). C dominant ninth (C9)
would usually be expected to resolve to an
F major chord (the implied key, C being the
dominant of F). The ninth is commonly
chromatically altered by half-step either up
or down to create more tension and
dissonance. Fétis tuned the chord
4:5:6:7:9.[5]

In the common practice period, "the root,

3rd, 7th, and 9th are the most common
factors present in the V9 chord," with the
5th, "typically omitted".[2] The ninth and
seventh usually resolve downward to the
fifth and third of I.[2]

Example of tonic dominant ninth chords

include Bobby Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe"
and Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky
Music".[6] James Brown's "I Got You (I Feel
Good)" features a striking dominant 9th
arpeggio played staccato at the end of the
opening 12-bar sequence. The opening
phrase of Chopin’s well-known "Minute
Waltz" climaxes on a dominant 9th chord:

Chopin Waltz in D♭, Op. 64, No. 1. Listen

César Franck’s Violin Sonata in A Major

opens with a dominant ninth chord (E9) in
the piano part. When the violin enters in
the fifth bar, its melody articulates an
arpeggio of this chord.

Cesar Franck Violin Sonata in A major, opening bars.

Listen
Debussy’s "Hommage a Rameau", the
second of his first Book of Images for
piano solo climaxes powerfully on a
dominant 9th, expressed both as a chord
and as a wide-ranging arpeggio:

Link to passage

The starting point of Karlheinz

Stockhausen’s piece for vocal sextet,
Stimmung (1968) is a chord consisting of
the notes B♭, F, B♭, D, A♭ and C.[7] According
to Cook (1987, p.370),[8] Stimmung could,
in terms of conventional tonal harmony, be
viewed as ‘simply a dominant ninth chord
that is subject to timbral variation. The
notes the performers sing are harmonics
2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9 of the implied but absent
fundamental—the B flat below the bass
clef.’

Dominant minor ninth

 Dominant minor ninth
Component intervals from root

minor ninth

minor seventh

perfect fifth

major third

root

Tuning

8:10:12:14:17

Forte no. / Complement

5-31 / 7-31
 (Dominant minor ninth chord on C)

A dominant minor ninth chord consists of

a dominant seventh chord and a minor
ninth. In C: C E G B♭ D♭. Fétis tuned the
chord 8:10:12:14:17.[5] In notation for jazz
and popular music, this chord is often
denoted, e.g., C7♭9. In Franz Schubert’s
Song Der Erlkönig, a terrified child calls out
to his father when he sees an apparition of
the sinister Elf King. The dissonant voicing
of the dominant minor ninth chord used
here (C7♭9) is particularly effective in
heightening the drama and sense of
threat.
(Extract from Schubert's 'Der Erlkönig.' Link
to passage )

Writing about this passage, Taruskin

(2010, p.149) remarks on the
“unprecedented… level of dissonance at
the boy’s outcries…The voice has the ninth,
pitched above, and the left hand has the
seventh, pitched below. The result is a
virtual ‘tone cluster’…the harmonic logic of
these progressions, within the rules of
composition Schubert was taught, can
certainly be demonstrated. That logic,
however, is not what appeals so strongly
to the listener’s imagination; rather it is the
calculated impression (or illusion) of wild
abandon.”[9]

Minor ninth
 Minor ninth
Component intervals from root

major ninth

minor seventh

perfect fifth

minor third

root

Tuning

20:24:30:36:45

Forte no. / Complement

5-27 / 7-27
 (C minor ninth chord)

The minor ninth chord consist of a minor

seventh chord and a major ninth. The
formula is 1, ♭3, 5, ♭7, 9. This chord is
written as Cm9. This chord has a more
"bluesy" sound and fits very well with the
dominant ninth.

Major ninth
 Major ninth
Component intervals from root

major ninth

major seventh

perfect fifth

major third

root

Tuning

8:10:12:15:18

Forte no. / Complement

5-27 / 7-27
Notable examples

In una stanza con paca luce (Ennio

Morricone: Once Upon a Time in the
West soundtrack no. 18.)

The parallel root-position bop voicings

that open the choruses of Thelonious
Cmaj9 chord.
Monk's 1959 Monk's Mood feature a
Play (help·inf
(C) major ninth chord.[10]
o)
Play (help·info)

The major ninth chord consist of a major

seventh chord and a major ninth. The
formula is 1, 3, 5, 7, 9. This chord is written
as Cmaj9.

6/9 chord

Tonic minor 6/9 chord on C, featuring the raised sixth

degree of the ascending melodic minor.[11]
Play (help·info)

The 6/9 chord is a pentad with a major

triad extended by a sixth and ninth above
the root, but no seventh, thus: C6/9 is
C,E,G,A,D. It is not a tense chord requiring
resolution, and is considered a substitute
for the tonic in jazz. The minor 6/9 chord
is a minor triad with an added 6th of the
Dorian Mode and an added 9th, and is also
suitable as a minor tonic in jazz.[12]

Heinrich Schenker, though he allowed the

substitution of the dominant seventh,
leading-tone, and leading tone half-
diminished seventh chords, rejected the
concept of a ninth chord on the basis that
only that on the fifth scale degree (V9) was
admitted and that inversion was not
allowed of the ninth chord.[13]

Second
Suspended chord (sus2) and added Ninth (D), in red,
tone chord (add9) both with D of a C added
(ninth=second), distinguished by the ninth chord (
absence or presence of the third Play (help·info))
(E♭).[14] .

In music, the second factor of a chord is

the note or pitch two scale degrees above
the root or tonal center. When the second
is the bass note, or lowest note, of the
expressed chord, the chord is in third
inversion Play (help·info). However, this is
equivalent to a gapped eleventh chord.
Conventionally, the second is third in
importance to the root, fifth, and third,
being an added tone. It is generally not
allowed as the bass note since that
inversion resembles an eleventh chord on
the second rather than an added tone
chord on the original note. In jazz chords
and jazz theory, the second is required due
to its being an added tone.

The quality of the second may be

determined by the scale, or may be
indicated. For example, in both a major
and minor scale a diatonic second added
to the tonic chord is major (C–D–E–G or
C–D–E♭–G) while one added to the
dominant chord is major or minor (G–A–
B–D or G–A♭–B♭–D), respectively.

The second is octave equivalent to the

ninth. If one could cut out the note in
between the fifth and the ninth and then
drop the ninth down an octave to a
second, one would have a second chord
(C–E–G–B♭D′ minus B♭ = C–D–E–G). The
difference between sus2 and add9 is
conventionally the absence or presence,
respectively, of the third.

Added ninth

An added ninth chord is a major triad with

an added ninth. Thus, Cadd9 consists of C,
E, G and D. (The D, which might be called
an added second, is two fifths up from the
root.) Added ninth chords differ from other
ninth chords because the seventh is never
included.

See also
Jazz chord
Dominant seventh sharp ninth chord

Sources
1. Sadie, Stanley, ed. (1980). "Ninth chord",
p.252, The New Grove Dictionary of Music
and Musicians, vol. 13. ISBN 1-56159-174-
2.
2. Benward & Saker (2009). Music in Theory
and Practice: Volume II, p.183-84. Eighth
Edition. ISBN 978-0-07-310188-0.
3. Stephenson, Ken (2002). What to Listen
for in Rock: A Stylistic Analysis, p.85.
ISBN 978-0-300-09239-4.
4. Benward & Saker (2009), p.179.
5. Fétis, François-Joseph and Arlin, Mary I.
(1994). Esquisse de l'histoire de l'harmonie,
p.139n9. ISBN 978-0-945193-51-7.
6. Stephenson, Ken (2002). What to Listen
for in Rock: A Stylistic Analysis, p.83.
ISBN 978-0-300-09239-4.
7.
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/bre
akingtherules/images/stimmung.mp3
8. Cook, N., A Guide to Musical Analysis,
London, J.M.Dent,
9. Taruskin, R. (2010) The Oxford History of
Western Music, Volume 4, Music in the
Nineteenth Century, Oxford University
Press.
10. Walter Everett (Autumn, 2004). "A Royal
Scam: The Abstruse and Ironic Bop-Rock
Harmony of Steely Dan", p.208-209, Music
Theory Spectrum, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 201-
235.
11. Berg, Shelly (2005). Alfred's Essentials
of Jazz Theory, Book 3, p.90. ISBN 978-0-
7390-3089-9.
12. Jazz Lessons
13. Schenker, Heinrich (1980). Harmony,
p.190. ISBN 978-0-226-73734-8.
14. Hawkins, Stan. "Prince- Harmonic
Analysis of 'Anna Stesia'", p.329 and 334n7,
Popular Music, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Oct., 1992),
pp. 325-335.

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