1.2 Major Scale
In 4-part harmony, we’re interested in functions rather than in the notes of the scales. This means we’re interested not only in the note themselves, but in the chords they form together.
The system we’re using to refer to those chords is called “functional harmony”. We’re using roman number (I, II, II, IV, V, VI, VII) where “I” corresponds to the triad built on top of the tonic (first note of the scale)
Constitutive Chords
If we build a triad on top of each degree of the Major scale, we get this
| I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maj | min | min | Maj | Maj | min | dim |
Where:
- I, IV and V are Major
- II, III and IV are minor
- VII is diminished
Because of its dissonant nature, VII is rarely used, and will often times be interpreted as V instead.
❤️ Note: I strongly recommend learning the constitutive chords by heart, it will solve some headache in the future. One way I recommend doing so is to associate them with the white keys on the piano for future reference.