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Understanding Music
Quick questions on Harmony: SQA Advanced Higher Music harmonic concepts
5short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What are hear the named chords?Show answer
Advanced Higher names particular chords you must recognise. The added sixth is a major (or minor) triad with the sixth above the root added, giving a soft, unresolved, often jazzy colour. The tierce de Picardie brightens the end of a minor piece by raising the final third to major. A secondary dominant borrows a dominant chord from a key other than the home key to lean briefly toward another chord, colouring the harmony with a chromatic note.
What is follow the modulation?Show answer
Modulation is a change of key within a piece. At Advanced Higher you should hear a move to related keys (the dominant, subdominant, relative major or minor) and recognise that the music has settled in a new key rather than merely touched a chromatic chord. The clue is a new key being confirmed by its own cadence. Distinguish a genuine modulation, which establishes a new key, from a passing chromatic chord or a secondary dominant, which colours the home key without leaving it.
What is q1?Show answer
What is a tierce de Picardie? [2 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
What must be true for a dissonance to count as a suspension? [2 marks]
What is q3?Show answer
How does a modulation differ from a passing chromatic chord? [1 mark]
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