1

2
Tendency Tones: 4 and 7
 7 up to 1, 4 down to 3
 4+ - resolve away
 5o - resolve inward

N6 = ii06 with ♭Root (♭2nd) = ♭II

6+ = iv6 with #Root (#4th)

V of V = ii with #3rd (#4th)

3
Dominant with a Substituted 6th

Dominant with a Raised 5th

IV add 6

9th, 11th and 13th Chords

4
Common-Tone Diminished 7th

Non-Chords Tones

5
6
5-6 Progression

Parallel Sixths Progression

I6-viio6-vi6-V6

Passacaglia Progression
I-v6-iv6-V
I-v6-It+6-V

Seventh Chords
Most chords in classical harmony are triads (without sevenths); seventh chords mixed
in for added spice. By far the most common type is the dominant 7th chord, built on
the fifth note of the scale (the "dominant seventh.") Seventh chords built on the other
notes of the scale are less common or downright rare (such as a seventh chord built on
the first note of the scale). In all seventh chords, the note that forms the seventh
above the base must resolve downward by step in order to sound stylistically
correct.

In jazz harmony, on the other hand, seventh chords are everywhere, built on every note
of the scale. In jazz seventh chords, there is no stylistic expectation that the notes that
form the seventh will resolve in a certain way. The seventh (and, often, the ninth,
eleventh, or thirteenth) is just part of the chord.

7
Tertian Chords with Added Notes
Though the possibility of adding to a triad a note that is a 6 th above the root was
recognized by theorists as early as the eighteenth century, chords with added notes
(sometimes called chords of addition) did not become an accepted part of the
harmonic vocabulary until the twentieth century, when they appeared more or less
simultaneously in concert music, popular music, and jazz. The basic chords are usually
triads, and the added notes (always figured above the root) are usually 2 nds
or 6ths, less frequently 4ths. Any triad with an added 6th could also be analyzed as an
inverted 7th chord, but the context will usually settle the issue, as Example 3–6
illustrates.

Popular
I-IV-V-I
I-vi-I-vi
IV-iii-ii-I
IV-V-vi

Voice Leading
Some of the “rules” that we learn in harmony courses are not actually all that general,
even when they are tested against tonal music. These include those procedures gleaned
from the study of the works of a particular composer (usually Bach) or that are really
valid only for a particular medium (usually choral). We learn them in order to begin
the study of tonal composition in a controlled and uncomplicated environment. Two
conventions that do seem to applicable throughout the tonal era, however, are the
following:
1. Parallel 5ths and octaves, especially the former, should be avoided.2
2. Any chord 7th should resolve down by step.