Sonority Quizzes
The following are the harmonic sonorities to be quizzed this semester. This list may develop as the semester progresses.
Sonorities to be quizzed
- Group 1: M triad, M7, dom7, M add6
- Group 2: min triad, min7, min-M7, min add6
- Group 3: o7, ø7, o-M7
- Group 4: aug-m7, aug-M7, dom7b5 (=Fr+6)
- Group 5: sus4 (3-note), dom7sus4, “quartal triad” (=dom7sus4 with no 5th)
- Further material TBA
At first, all sonorities will be played in fixed position (root position or equivalent), in closest spacing, in the middle register of the piano. Each quiz will include some sonorities played as block chords and arpeggios, others played as block chords only.
The material is cumulative. On each quiz, the first section will be limited to the newest group of sonorities, while the second section will include both newly added and previously studied sonorities.
How to Study
- Play the sonorities at the piano. Transpose to a variety of pitches and registers.
- Sing (arpeggiate) the sonority you are playing.
- Mentally isolate the lowest pitch, second pitch, etc. Sing that pitch and check it with the piano.
- Group sonorities into similar-sounding pairs or triplets and work on distinguishing them.
- Find a study partner and play sonorities for each other.
- Locate these sonorities in familiar repertoire and associate them with a context. For example, the opening piano chord in the Beatles’ “Golden Slumbers” is an incomplete minor seventh chord in close voicing; the opening chord of John Lennon’s “Imagine” is a ninth chord that becomes a major seventh chord.
Further material TBA
...may include re-spacings of the above, inversions of the above, or additional 3- and 4-pitch sonorities identified by pitch class set type