Pedals, or Suspension via Bass Note Glen Halls. All Rights Reserved

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Junior Stone
5 years ago
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1 Pedals, or Suspension via Bass Note Glen Halls. All Rights Reserved A 'Pedal' is literally putting a tone other than the root in the bass. A 'Pedal Point' is a string of chords over the same tone in the bass, ( usually 3 or more chords), which will be discussed in a separate paper. In between these two extremes is a third harmonic context with two chords over the same root, which is sometimes called a "modal cadence'( also not discussed here- See Halls- Modal Cadences).A fourth kind of pedal involves commontone relation in which the pedal may be in an inner voice, with or without duplication in the bass. ( really any two or more chord sequence over a pedal is by definition a commontone progression- with the commontone in the bass). What is a pedal? What does it do? Pedals basically do only one thing-create suspensions, but this is useful in two ways. First, a pedal ( i.e. basically throwing a new bass note below a single conventional chord ) creates freshness-surprise, a little tension. It accomplishes this basically by making upper partials out of what might normally be considered 'lower partials', or what we often call 'chord tones' ( 1 3 5, maybe 7 ) For example: Given C, then throw bass pedals of D, of F, of G, of B,.... of Bb, or Db, of F#, maybe of Ab.., of F.

2 In all cases, partials 1,3, and 5 have been shifted higher. Upper partials are not always used without 3 and 5 - it's as if a whole has been cut in the tertian stack and some of the lower partials removed. (In other contexts what are here termed 'chords by pedal' are understood as 'upperstructure voicings'. For example, the C over D pedal would be an 'upperstructure voicing' for Dmi7. ( See Halls, Upper Structure Voicings.) There is an inherent interest generated by upper partials ( see Halls-Partials), and in addition to this tension, sometimes more or less depending on the number of major 7ths and minor 9ths in the chord, there is a kind of conditioned-perceptual 'surprise', in that the listener 'remembers' or recognizes the sound of C - we'grab' this pattern in our brain and think for a split second that this should be the 'tonic', then realizing it is not. This is why a pedal, i.e. pedal the single chord, is a category or chord quality on its own. It also has a more raw sound, more primitive. I'm not sure why at this point, it could simply be that we hear more than one perfect fifth. ( I.e. the fifth in the upper structure and the fifth assumed to be present, present as a harmonic, in the bass pedal. Also, and this is probably the most important aspect, with some of these lower partials, lower partials typically being understood as the stronger in defining a chords function, these pedal-chords are somewhat liberated. I.e. They are freed to be followed by virtually any other chord, perhaps to the extent that the defining element of a phrase is not harmonic function by "LINE". I.e. ( soprano or bass melody guiding the phrase, chord to provide vertical interest below. This leads to the conception that motion in the bass alone may by default largely carry any functional motion in the phrase. ( linear dissonance) It follows that their might be relative strengths of these bass motions alone. The only difference between these bass/pedal dissonances and the normal funcional qualities of triads is that resolution of linear dissonance will be understood as relating to root only, whereas in conventional progressions a number of resolutions are possible. ( 1 and 3, 3 and 5, 3 and 7?)

3 (It should be noted however that one of the most common examples of a pedal-chord is simply an inversion, i.e. C/E, C/G, C/Bb. True, inversion change often facilitated better voice leading in the old chorale style, but in terms of harmonic function and stability inversions do have a buoyant effect- they suggest lightness and make it a little less jarring to suddenly move to a very different chord.) I. Strongest. V-I Dom 1/2 step SD 1/2 step dom II. Next. Displaced SD. ( SD not to the closest chord tone) III. Modal SD Modal Dominant IV. Diplaced partial dominant

4 V. Minor third relations. These are the weakest, and thus the most compelling. Note, we are not ditinguishing major and minor keys hear. This is root motion alone. VI. Bass motions beyond motion to the lower partials of the drone drone. Note: Unless otherwise specified, below assume a major triad as the upper structure portion of the pedal chords. Minor triads are much more likely to be interpreted as inversions of conventional chords. Those roots producing interesting pedal effects with a minor upperstructure are marked with an *. (7, b5, 3, and 2 )

5 Now, all of these basic chord types will apply to any triad,and obviously not just the tonic or here ' C '.

6 The same vertical dissonant effects will hold in any transposition, and it is not a requirement that pedal chords relate to each other in any way. Often, they follow line, often they follow some arbitrary numerical transposition sequence. What is interesting nonetheless are the possibilities for new functional chords which emerge as the basic templates are transposed an tested for all 12 pitches. I haven't gone into great detail below, but on the left is the chord and on the right is a probable scale in which this chord could be reasonably found, with respect to a C or I tonic. For more information on scales, please see Halls- Scales. While the basic tendencies of the pedals are described above relate to a triad upper structure, most of the examples below do use of four note chord. They should be basically the same. Four note upper structures will generally lead to a more interesting vertical dissonance- and perhaps better functional resolution as well. Triadic upper structures are more raw, more resonant in character, which I think is preferred. ( I'm also a composer and orchestrator so I tend to over-delineate chords). Remember one of the basic utilitieis of pedal chords- they can move virtually anywhere anytime, or to express this utilitiy negatively, they may be contra-functional. Once your out of the predictable template of functional progressions and somewhat normal phrases, you want your chords to pack have greater impact. Four note upper structures may result in a more interesting sound, but not a stronger sound. To put it another way, triadic upper structures will seem to 'cut'.

Music Theory I (MUT 1111) Prof. Nancy Rogers

Music Theory I (MUT 1111) Prof. Nancy Rogers The Supertonic Chord (ii or ii ) The supertonic is the strongest diatonic pre-dominant. It should therefore progress immediately to V and not move to a weaker