Thirty Theory Lessons - Reprinted From Keyboard Magazine Return to catalog Table Of Contents   A New Way of Looking at the Keyboard   Managing Melodic Motives   From Motive to Melody   Tetrachords: Traditional and Trendy   Tetrachord Applications: Bizarre Scales   Strange Scales, Strange Chords   Tackling the 12-Tone Row   Using 12-Tone Methods in Other Styles   Walking Bass Lines   Altering Melodic Tones to Fit Altered Chords   Spice Up Your Melodies with Countermelodies.   Sound-Sweetening Successions of Sixths   Instant Harmonization   The Pentatonic Scale: Bridging Music Styles Around the World   Getting the Most from Five Notes   Turnarounds   Dominant Seventh Cycles: The Secret Formula   Seventh Chord Rotations: A New Formula for an Old Recipe   Making Progressions from Seventh Rotations   An Old Circle and a New Tree   The Diminished Seventh Chord   Chameleon Chords   Intensifying Harmony by Adding Chromatic Chords   Add Harmonic Tension with Chromatic Wedges   Restructuring Thirteenth Chords   Extending Chords via Major Seventh Intervals   Augmented Sixth Chords   More Augmented Sixth Chords   Quartal Chords   38 pages   These articles first appeared in Keyboard Magazine	Sample Page...   INSTANT HARMONIZATION IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY, MUSICIANS didn't have to hunt for chords. Instead, they harmonized melodies with an automatic chord progression system called Fauxbourdon, a system simple enough for a keyboard beginner to use instantly, yet flexible enough for an arranger to use creatively. No matter how it is used, Fauxbourdon always sounds sweet. To produce Fauxbourdon in its original fifteenth-century style, voice each triad in the key of C with its root on top, its fifth in the middle and its third on the bottom, as in Ex. 1. All the triads are now in first inversion. Then, match roots with notes along the melody, as in Ex. 2, thus forming a progression of first inversion triads. The sweet sound comes from the parallel sixths between the outer voices. To produce a variant of the fifteenth-century style, voice each triad in the key of C with its third on top, its root in the middle, and its fifth at the bottom, as in Ex.3. All the triads are now in second inversion. Match thirds with the notes along the melody, as in Ex. 4, thus forming a progression of second inversion triads. Again, parallel sixths between the outer voices sweeten the sound. To produce Fauxbourdon in its extended-chord style (Ex. 5), hold a triad in the left hand while moving either of the above Fauxbourdon styles along the melody. Some of the motes in the Fauxbourdon line now sound like 6ths, 7ths, 9ths, or 11ths added to the left-hand triad, as indicated by the small numbers next to notes in the example. To produce Fauxbourdon in its chromatic style, (Ex. 6), simply move principle triads up or down by half-step without changing their inversion. Then, add pedal-tone bass notes on degrees I, IV, or V when desired. The various Fauxbourdon types work best with melodies which move by step or narrow leap-melodies like "I Dream Too Much," the "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Irving Berlin's "White Christmas." Or "My Romance." Ex. 1 The original fifteenth-century style Fauxbourdon. Note that the root is on top, the fifth in the middle, and the third at the bottom. Ex. 2 Roots are matched with notes along the melody in this example using "Joy to the World." Ex. 3 A variation of the fifteenth-century style, with the third on top, the root in the middle, and the fifth on the bottom. Ex.4 As in Ex. 2, thirds are matched with notes along the melody, forming a progression of second-inversion triads. Ex. 5 This Example shows Fauxbourdon in its extended-chord style. Some of the notes in the Fauxbourdon will sound like 6ths, 7ths, 9ths, or 11ths added to the left-hand triad.