A borrowed chord (also called mode mixture,
[Romeo, Sheila (1999). ''Complete Rock Keyboard Method: Mastering Rock Keyboard'', p. 42. . Bouchard, Joe and Romeo, Sheila (2007). ''The Total Rock Keyboardist'', p. 120. Alfred Music. .] modal mixture,
substituted chord,
[White, William Alfred (1911). ]
Harmonic Part-writing
', p. 42. Silver, Burdett, & Co. . modal interchange,
or mutation
) is a
chord borrowed from the
parallel key
In music theory, a major scale and a minor scale that have the same tonic note are called parallel keys and are said to be in a parallel relationship. Forte, Allen (1979). ''Tonal Harmony'', p.9. 3rd edition. Holt, Rinehart, and Wilson. . "When ...
(
minor or
major scale
The major scale (or Ionian mode) is one of the most commonly used musical scales, especially in Western music. It is one of the diatonic scales. Like many musical scales, it is made up of seven notes: the eighth duplicates the first at doub ...
with the same
tonic). Borrowed chords are typically used as "color chords", providing harmonic variety through contrasting scale forms, which are major scales and the three forms of minor scales.
[Benward & Saker (2009), p. 71.] Chords may also be borrowed from other parallel
modes
Mode ( la, modus meaning "manner, tune, measure, due measure, rhythm, melody") may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* '' MO''D''E (magazine)'', a defunct U.S. women's fashion magazine
* ''Mode'' magazine, a fictional fashion magazine which is ...
besides the major and minor mode, for example D
Dorian with D major.
The mixing of the major and minor modes developed in the
Baroque period
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires includin ...
.
Borrowed chords are distinguished from
modulation
In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform, called the '' carrier signal'', with a separate signal called the ''modulation signal'' that typically contains informat ...
by being brief enough that the tonic is not lost or displaced, and may be considered brief or transitory modulations
and may be distinguished from
secondary chords as well as
altered chord
An altered chord is a chord that replaces one or more notes from the diatonic scale with a neighboring pitch from the chromatic scale. By the broadest definition, any chord with a non-diatonic chord tone is an altered chord. The simplest examp ...
s.
According to Sheila Romeo, "
e borrowed chord suggests the sound of its own mode without actually switching to that mode."
Common borrowed chords
Sheila Romeo explains that "
theory, any chord from any mode of the scale of the piece is a potential modal interchange or borrowed chord. Some are used more frequently than others, while some almost never occur."
In the minor mode, a common borrowed chord from the parallel major key is the
Picardy third
A Picardy third, (; french: tierce picarde) also known as a Picardy cadence or Tierce de Picardie, is a major chord of the tonic at the end of a musical section that is either modal or in a minor key. This is achieved by raising the third of the ...
.
In the major mode, the most common examples of borrowed chords are those involving the , also known as the lowered sixth
scale degree
In music theory, the scale degree is the position of a particular note on a scale relative to the tonic, the first and main note of the scale from which each octave is assumed to begin. Degrees are useful for indicating the size of intervals a ...
. These chords are shown below, in the key of C major.
The next most common involve the and . These chords are shown below.
Chord progression
In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...
s may be constructed with borrowed chords, including two progressions common in
rock music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States a ...
, I–VII–VI–VII, common everywhere, and I–VI–IV (), used by bands like
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
,
Yes
Yes or YES may refer to:
* An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no
Education
* YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US
* YES (Your Extraordinary Saturday), a learning program from the Minnesota Institute for Talent ...
, and
Nirvana
( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lamp Richard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colomb ...
.
VII is from
Mixolydian and VI is found in both
Aeolian and
Phrygian.
The VII–I
cadence
In Western musical theory, a cadence (Latin ''cadentia'', "a falling") is the end of a phrase in which the melody or harmony creates a sense of full or partial resolution, especially in music of the 16th century onwards.Don Michael Randel (199 ...
with VII substituting for V is common, as well as II–I, III–I, and VI–I.
[Romeo (1999), p. 43.] In
popular music
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fu ...
, the
major triad
In music theory, a major chord is a chord that has a root, a major third, and a perfect fifth. When a chord comprises only these three notes, it is called a major triad. For example, the major triad built on C, called a C major triad, has pitch ...
s on the lowered third (III), sixth (VI) and seventh (VII)
scale degree
In music theory, the scale degree is the position of a particular note on a scale relative to the tonic, the first and main note of the scale from which each octave is assumed to begin. Degrees are useful for indicating the size of intervals a ...
s are common.
Borrowed chords have typical
inversions or common positions, for example ii
6 and ii, and progress in the same manner as the diatonic chords they replace except for VI, which progresses to V
(7).
See also
*
Aeolian harmony
The Aeolian mode is a musical mode or, in modern usage, a diatonic scale also called the natural minor scale. On the white piano keys, it is the scale that starts with A. Its ascending interval form consists of a ''key note, whole step, half st ...
*
Diatonic function
In music, function (also referred to as harmonic function) is a term used to denote the relationship of a chord"Function", unsigned article, ''Grove Music Online'', . or a scale degree to a tonal centre. Two main theories of tonal functions exi ...
*
Harmonic major
References
External links
*
*
"Mode Mixture" Robert J. Frank (2000), ''Theory on the Web''.
* and
''Berklee''.
*Mike Campese
''Guitar Nine Records''.
''Taming the Saxophone''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Borrowed Chord
Chord progressions
Chords
Chromaticism