Integrated Aural Skills 2019-20
Review of Seventh Chords
Review of Seventh Chords (Simple Presentation)
Back in Aural Skills III, starting in Unit 4, we studied five types of seventh chords, their solfege and harmonic function (some of them have more than one!), and where we are likely to find them in context. Please review the Spotify playlist from Unit 4, which features contexts for all five types of seventh chords.
In Aural Skills IV, we will expand our listening skills to identify seventh chords in compound presentation. It’s always a wise idea to review fundamentals, so this week we will revisit seventh chords in simple presentation so that we can fluently identify them in compound presentation later.
After re-familiarizing yourself with the chords, please play them on the piano – blocked and arpeggiated in ascending and descending motion – and sing up and down the tones using solfege. What are their differences and commonalities? (Questions to ask yourself: function? Intervallic relations? Context within major and/or minor keys?)
The table below (again, this is review from Unit 4) explains the characteristics, harmonic function, and solfege of each of the seventh chords. Please re-commit the table to memory.
| Chord Name | double diminished 7 | half diminished 7 | minor-minor 7 | major-minor 7 | major-major 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Symbol | dd 7 | dm 7 | mm 7 | Mm 7 | MM 7 |
| Intervallic Structure of the Chord | diminished triad + major third OR three stacked minor 3rds | diminished triad + major 3rd | minor triad + minor 3rd | major triad + minor 3rd | major triad + major 3rd |
| Common Harmonic Function | vii07 in minor keys | iiØ7 in minor keys OR viiØ7 in major keys | ii7 OR vi7 in major keys | V7 in major AND minor keys | rare in classical music; commoner in jazz and pop |
| Solfege | ti re fa le | re fa le do OR ti re fa la | re fa la do OR la do mi sol | sol ti re fa | do mi sol ti |
Review - Practice Singing Seventh Chords
Please review singing seventh chords using this exercise that we studied in Aural Skills III. Singing is a great method for internalizing theoretical concepts.
Click on the link below to download the exercise.