Klarinet Archive - Posting 000208.txt from 2001/06

From: Neil Leupold <leupold_1@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] ....more about harmony
Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 15:38:37 -0400

--- "Lacy, Edwin" <el2@-----.edu> wrote:

> I know that some people and some theorists regard the leading tone
> triad as merely a dominant seventh chord with the root omitted.

I've done that.

> I prefer not to do that; I think it is dangerous to permit the root
> of any chord to be omitted. If we omit the root, something else be-
> comes the root.

Only if viewed in the abstract, i.e., outside the context of a harmonic
sequence. If you just stack the notes on top of each other and name
the chord, e.g, B-D-F, you think you're looking at a B-diminished triad.
But music doesn't occur in a vacuum. When observed in the context of
where it's coming from and where it's going, the purpose of a chord be-
comes (usually) immediately evident and its function is thusly derived.
If that B-D-F chord in C major meanders chromatically around and lands
on vi or some other harmony without reaching V, you can "dismiss" it
as a passing chord (don't take that word too seriously). But if it
resolves to the tonic, you know it was functionally a leading tone
harmony.

It's interesting. I've often called vii chords in context "dominant"
chords, even though, as you point out, the fifth degree is absent.
Maybe we should continue to call vii chords "leading tone" chords
(when they function that way), and refer to V chords that way as
well, since you won't find one that lacks the leading tone, yet
all vii chords lack the fifth degree.

Alright, now my mind is wandering...

Neil

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