Tom Sutcliffe’s
Harmonic Phrase Structure Theory
This is a theory concerning the nature of chord progressions in tonal
music. Its central thesis is that after ornamental chords (such as
passing chords) are eliminated from the chord successions, a Harmonic
Outline remain consisting of Phrases. The basic form of these
phrases is as follows:
A Phrase
consists of two parts: an Opening section and a Closing section.
The Opening section contains Static Harmony,
basically tonic chords alternating with auxiliary chords.
The Closing section consists
of Dynamic
Harmony and a Cadence. The Dynamic Harmony Section is made up
mostly of “strong root progressions” of three types: rising 4th,
falling 3rd, and rising 2nd.
The Cadence, finally, consists
of a Dominant
section and a Tonic
section both of which can be prolonged by auxiliary chords.
This basic structure can be extended in various ways.
The color coding used in this description is also used in the chord
description of MelodyGenerator.
Reference
For a detailed description of the theory see:
http://www.harmony.org.uk/
Sutcliffe.html (last update 7.5.2008)
Created in SeaMonkey
© D.J. Povel, 2008
