music theory for musicians and normal people by toby w. rush
Triads in Inversion ladies and gentlemen, it’s franz joseph haydn!
ooh! let’s see ‘em!
and he’s brought a movement from his 1767 sonata in g major.
thank you for having me. in this piece I use quite a few triads. haydn
here’s one: it has the notes # 3 j œ œ œ œ œœg. œœit’sœœ aœjc œmajor œœ œœœœœœ œ & 8 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œc, œeœ and œ œ . œtriad! very. nice. œ f . œ œ. œ œ. . œ see how œ. œ œ œ ? # 38 ‰ œ œ thank you. the notes ‰ œand notœ just œ spread œ are œ œ œ œ J œ œout, J J J stacked in thirds? it’sJ still a triad, though.
œ. œ œ . œ. . œ. œ . œ œ œ
´ ´ œ œ œ œ œ´ œ œ œ œ œ´ œ œ # . œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œœœ & .J œ œ œ œ this one is g, b, and d... a g major triad! but it sounds p f j F different, . somehow. j œ . œ that’s œ œ œ because œ. œ the third œ. œ. ofœ. the œ œ œ. œ œ œ ? # .. ‰ œ chord is in the bass... when that happens, œ œ œ œ œ œ we say œ chord œ is in first œ inversion. œ œ. the J œ J J J . œœœœœœ œœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ œœ J first inversion? what is it called when the root is in the ƒ . œchord . bass, like the first . œ that’s called œ œ we looked at? œposition. œ root ?# œ œ œ. œ ‰ œ œ œ œ J J œ œ œ œ J J #
b & b .. ‰ ? b b .. ‰
Mœ J ‰ ‰ p & ‰ œ œ
. U œ œ œ œ œ. œ. œ œ. J
.. j œ. f ‰
.. n b b
œ. œ. . œ . n b œ œ . b
so Mœ this one with œ d, f, and œ a n œœ œ œ Mœ #Mœ is a d minor triad... œin œ #œ œ ‰ # œ ‰ ‰ J ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ J ‰ ‰ J ‰ ‰ J second inversion! J J F p nœ œ œ œ œ œthe œ œ œ ? ‰ œ because ‰ œ ‰ œ œ ‰ œ œexactly! fifth is in the‰ bass. œ œ œ œ
so the thing that makes a triad root position, first inversion or second inversion is simply which note is in the bass?
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that’s right! and each one has its own character.
it’s hard to believe that the sound of the chord can change so much just because of the I know, right? bass note. it’s awesome. licensed under a creative commons BY-NC-ND license - visit tobyrush.com for more
haydn
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