Integrated Aural Skills 2018-19

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Harmonic Dictation Exam Review

General guidelines

  • First hearing: listen to overall color of harmony, noticing chromatic tones, cadence types, pre-cadential chords, etc. Are there secondary dominants? Augmented sixth chords? Neapolitan chords? Borrowed chords? Irregular resolutions? Make some analysis predictions.
  • First and second hearings: write your bass notes in as soon as possible. This voice will determine not only the chord, but the inversion. Further refine your analysis predictions.
  • First, second, and third hearings: write in the soprano notes. These are useful as a confirmation of predicted harmonies, or a clarification between two possible different outcomes.
  • Final hearing: check your work according to principles of harmonic progression and voice-leading, and use the clues from the soprano and bass voice to eliminate possible wrong answers. The final hearing is also a good time to check whether dominant chords have a seventh degree, for example.

Chord progression rules

Review and memorize the rules of chord progression. This will save you a great deal of time figuring out your Roman numeral analysis.

  • Major keys Chord Progressions in Major

  • Minor keys Chord Progressions in Minor

Procedures for possible harmonies

Root movement

  • Review the rules of root movement in the table below:
Bass Notes Likely Chord Pattern
do, re, mi I-V6/4-I6 OR I-V4/3 OR I-viio6-I6
do, re, sol I-ii-V
do, mi, fa I-I6-IV
do, mi, sol I-I6-V
do, fa, re I-IV-ii
do, fa, mi I-IV-I6
do, fa, sol I-IV-V OR I-vi-ii6
do, sol, la I-V-vi
do, la, fa I-vi-IV OR I-vi-ii6
do, ti, do I-V6/5-I OR I-V6-I
  • In Units 9 and 19, we studied these rules in context in piano practice. Review the following examples at the piano, paying special attention to root movement:

Piano Practice 1

Piano Practice 2

Piano Practice 3

Secondary Dominants

Secondary Dominant Example 1

Secondary Dominant Example 2

Secondary Dominant Example 3

Secondary Dominant Example 4

Secondary Dominant Example 5

Neapolitan chord

  • Commit the solfege of the Neapolitan chord to memory: fa-le-ra. Remember, the Neapolitan chord always appears in first inversion.
  • Sing the Neapolitan chord procedure:

Neapolitan 3

  • Play the Neapolitan chord on the piano to hear how it functions in context: Neapolitan 1 Neapolitan 2

Augmented sixth chords

Memorize the solfege of the three types of augmented sixth chord, and the salient features of each:

  • Italian sixth = le-do-fi (only 3 tones)
  • German sixth = le-do-me-fi (enharmonic equivalent of the major-minor seventh chord, though greatly different in solfege and function!)

  • French sixth = le-do-re-fi (composed of a partial whole tone collection, and therefore very dissonant)

  • Sing the augmented sixth chords:

Augmented 4

  • Play augmented sixth chords on the piano to hear how they function in context: Augmented 1 Augmented 2 Augmented 3

Borrowed chords

  • Memorize the possibilities for borrowed chords: therefore, in major keys, iio, ii∅7, ♭III, iv, ♭VI, viio7, etc.
  • Practice the following progressions on the piano to easily recall the ways in which we can borrow chords from the parallel mode: Picardy3rd flat6 minoriv multipleborrowings

Irregular resolutions

  • Remember, irregular resolutions are comparable to a deceptive cadence, but in the context of a secondary dominant. Practice this example of what they sound like: irregular resolution