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MUSIC 2107 Materials and Techniques of Music III Dr. C. Ross

The document discusses the musical technique of mixture, which involves chromatically altering notes in chords to decorate diatonic harmonic progressions. Mixture is more common in major keys and involves borrowing chords from the parallel minor key, such as using iv instead of IV. It can also change the mode of diatonic triads. Mixture chords generally function the same way as the diatonic chords they are based on and are used to heighten expression and drama in music.

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47 views1 page

MUSIC 2107 Materials and Techniques of Music III Dr. C. Ross

The document discusses the musical technique of mixture, which involves chromatically altering notes in chords to decorate diatonic harmonic progressions. Mixture is more common in major keys and involves borrowing chords from the parallel minor key, such as using iv instead of IV. It can also change the mode of diatonic triads. Mixture chords generally function the same way as the diatonic chords they are based on and are used to heighten expression and drama in music.

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fiza10
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MUSIC 2107 Materials and Techniques of Music III Dr. C.

Ross

Mixture
M IXTURE involves chromatically altering one or more notes in chords, in order to decorate and
intensify diatonic harmonic progressions. This is generally done in one of the following ways:
(i) borrowing any chords from the parallel minor in a Major key, as follows:
I becomes i, ii » ii°, iii » bIII, IV » iv, V » v, vi » bVI, and vii° » bVII, or vii°7 » vii°7.
•In general, mixture chords involving b6̂ are the most common: ii°, iv, vii°7. and bVI. [why?]
•bIII and bVII are possible but less common.
•i and v in a Major key are possible, but rare. [why?]
•Mixture can be also be applied in a larger scale (macro-level): The entire key can change mode to
the parallel minor (e.g. from D to d), or modulations to mixture key forms (e.g. D to Bb) may occur.
Mixture can also be used to create chromatically-altered Dominants (which will be studied later):
vii°7 and Vb9 (both of which use b6̂), and also Vb13 (which involves b3̂)

( i i ) changing the mode of any diatonic triad, just because it sounds good to do so; i.e. no further
theoretical justification is necessary. This is done as follows:
Major to minor (or augmented), minor to diminished (or Major), and diminished to minor or Major (rare)
In Major keys, the new (i.e. chords not already discussed in category (i)) chords that this produces are:
II, III, (VI), and (VII or vii).
•Note that all of these chords are Major, and are more likely be functioning as 2ry V’s than mixture
chords. How can you tell the difference? Could 2ry V’s be considered type (ii) mixture chords?

POINTS TO REMEMBER:
•Mixture chords generally function in the same way as the diatonic chords on which they are based
(i.e. iv functions like IV, bVI like vi, etc.).
•Mixture is much more common in Major keys than minor; the only common mixture chord in minor
keys is I (TdP1). [Think about this and try to explain why this might be]
•Mixture is often used in modulations; using it in a pivot chord can simplify modulations to more
distant keys. Less commonly, it can be used in the new key after the pivot chord to reinforce the sense
that the music is moving away from the previous key.
DOUBLING, VOICE-LEADING: •Avoid doubling chromatically-altered notes (some exceptions occur
with chords whose roots are chromatically-altered, like bIII, bVI, and bVII; in these cases the roots,
being relatively stable, can sometimes be doubled if doing-so improves the voice-leading).
•Chromatically-altered notes tend to resolve in the direction of the accidental (lowered notes
continue down, raised notes continue up), although there are frequent exceptions. [Discuss]
•Chromatically-altered notes need to be approached carefully; by chromatic or diatonic step, or
small skip (preferably followed by change of direction) is best.
COMBINATION PLATTERS: 1. A series of mixture chords in a row is not uncommon, such as {iv - ii°},
or {bIII - bVI - iv - ii°}; 2. When one chord has two chromatically-altered notes (like bIII or bVI), it
often proceeds to another mixture chord with at least one chromatically-altered note (so bIII might go
to iv, or bVI might go to iv or ii°). bVII only has one chromatically-altered note (the root), so it can go
to V (which has no chromatically-altered notes) easily. 3. iv - ii°6 (-V) sounds better than iv - ii6 (-V);
why? III - IV sounds better than III - iv; why? bVI - ii°6 (-V) sounds better than iv - ii6 (-V); why?
•M IXTURE IS AN EXPRESSIVE DEVICE, often linked to reinforce the meaning of the text, title, or
programme, or, in the case of absolute (i.e. non-programmatic, non-texted) music, to heighten drama.

1TdP stands for Tierce de Picardie, or Picardy Third (= raising third from minor to major in final tonic triad in a minor key).

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