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

• Minor keys

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:

Secondary Dominants

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:

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

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:

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

Borrowed chords

• Memorize the possibilities for borrowed chords: therefore, in major keys, ii^o, ii^∅7, ♭III, iv, ♭VI, vii^o7, etc.
• Practice the following progressions on the piano to easily recall the ways in which we can borrow chords from the parallel mode:

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: