Functional harmony is a fundamental concept in music that involves understanding the relationships between chords and their functions within a key. It allows you to create tension and resolution, adding movement and interest to your compositions regardless of the genre you are working in. Here are the key points to grasp about functional harmony:
Key and Tonality: A key consists of a set of notes used to create a piece of music. Each key has a tonic, which is a stable and resolved chord that serves as the point of stability and resolution in tonal music. The tonic chord represents the home base to which other chords in the key gravitate. Understanding key and tonality helps you identify which chords work well together and enables you to create chord progressions that guide listeners through different sections of your music.
Chord Progression: A chord progression is a series of chords played in succession and forms the foundation of many popular songs. In functional harmony, the progression is based on a tonic chord, which acts as the root or central chord of the progression.
Tonic, Dominant, and Subdominant Chords: The three most important chords in functional harmony are the tonic, dominant, and subdominant chords.
- Tonic Chord: The most stable and resolved chord in a key, representing the home base or resting point.
- Dominant Chord: Creates tension and strongly leads back to the tonic chord, providing a sense of resolution. It is the chord that wants to resolve back to the tonic.
- Subdominant Chord: Provides stability and contrast with the dominant chord. It helps build tension and movement towards the dominant chord and away from the tonic chord.
These three chords (tonic, dominant, and subdominant) can be combined to create functional chord progressions, such as the classic IV-V-I progression (e.g., F-G-C in the key of C major).
Other Chords in Functional Harmony: In addition to the tonic, dominant, and subdominant chords, there are other chords that play important roles in functional harmony. These include the supertonic, mediant, submediant, and leading tone chords. They contribute to the cycle of tension and resolution, adding color and interest to harmonic progressions.
Tonality and Harmonic Cadences: Harmonic cadences are sequences of chords that create a sense of resolution and closure in music. They mark the end of a musical idea or phrase, such as the end of a verse section. Different types of cadences, such as the authentic, plagal, and deceptive cadences, can be used to confirm or obscure the sense of tonality.
Modulation: Modulation is the process of changing keys within a piece of music, temporarily or permanently. It adds contrast and complexity to the harmonic structure by introducing new tonalities and creating tension and excitement. Chords and cadences can be used to establish new tonal centers when modulating between keys.
Voice Leading: Voice leading refers to the movement of individual notes within a chord progression. It is essential in functional harmony to create smooth and natural-sounding progressions that reinforce the underlying harmonic structure. Common chord tones between chords and small interval movements contribute to smoother progressions with less tension and contrast.
By understanding these aspects of functional harmony, you can create chord progressions that provide resolution, closure, tension, and surprise. Cadences and modulation can structure your compositions and manipulate the listener's emotions. Recognizing these devices in other composers' music helps deepen your understanding of their structure and emotional impact.
Now, it's time to apply these concepts to your own music. Happy composing!
