7. Tension and Release
Music, as in almost all art forms of art, is more meaningful, more interesting, more emotional, and more satisfying when there is a buildup of tension followed by release (resolution). In music, you build tension in a chord progression by moving away from the tonal center of the key building tension and then reaching release when you return to the tonal center. This tonal center is called the tonic and the tonic is based on the root tone of the key also the root note of the I chord.
So, in the key of C major the tonic chord, the I chord, is the C major (CEG). In the key of A minor the tonic (i) chord is Am (ACE). As we introduced in the previous blog, the other chords have harmonic functions too.
In the previous blog we introduced functional harmony, and looked at the common major chord progressions (I, IV, V), and harmonic cadences. In this blog, we will explore functional harmony further but from a different perspective, as well as present some reference material that will hopefully help with your understanding and songwriting.
Functional Harmony
Functional harmony is a method of viewing chords in the context of tension and release. We introduced functional harmony in the last blog, so, let’s review some terms. Below is a list of each diatonic chords and their functional harmonic terms. There are also, some common chord substitutions that are outside the diatonic chord scheme.
| Functional | Chords | Substitute |
|---|---|---|
| Tonic | I, iii, vi | VI, III |
| Subdominant | IV, ii | II |
| Dominant | V, viio; | VII |
Tonic - feels stable, at home or has a general feeling of the final chord of a song or section of a song
Subdominant - introduces some degree of instability or giving the listener a sense of incompleteness
Dominant - feels unstable, tense, a need for resolution to the listener
We have these terms but you should also be aware that when you do research you will run into other terms and different schools of thought. For instance the iii and vi chords are sometimes referred to has supertonic. Also, subdominant may be replaced by the term predominant.
In the two videos below from the 12Tone YouTube channel he gives a good overview on chord construction and chord function.
Chord Substitutions (Brief Introduction)
In the table above, we have a column labeled as substitute degrees. Really these are substitute chords. For instance, you may see a major VI chord or a major III chord used as a tonic in a major key. These are not diatonic chords (because of the major 3rd in the chord is not diatonic), but add a different color or emotion to a chord progression. Actually, the major III and major VI chords are borrowed from the parallel minor key, but that will be the topic of the next blog.
In the video link below from Sound Guitar Lessons with Jarad on YouTube, he discusses functional harmony along with some examples of how to use the diatonic and non-diatonic chords in songwriting.
We see the same harmonic functions in minor keys albeit these relationship are weaker. We have the table below as a reference for chords based on the natural minor (aeolian) scale. What is different between the major key and minor key chord functions is the dominant chords minor v and major VII lack the 7th scale degree as the minor scale is comprised of a R, 2M, b3, P4, P5, b6, and b7. Please refer back to the blog “It’s All Relative” for more information. The absence of the major 7th scale note being a half-step below the key root (tonic) makes the minor v chord and the flat major bVII chord have less tension compared with the half-step between the major 7th and the key root (tonic) tone.
However, overall we still can treat a key in the natural minor scale with the same chord functions of building tension and giving release.
| Functional | Chords | Substitute |
|---|---|---|
| Tonic | i, III, VI | — |
| Subdominant | iv, iio | II |
| Dominant | v, VII | V7, VII7 |
The next step with minor chords is to discuss the development of the harmonic minor scale and the melodic minor scale. Simply put, the harmonic minor is the natural minor scale with a raised 7th degree. But this resulted in the interval between the minor (flat) 6th degree to the major 7th degree one and a half-step or a minor third. While giving the harmonic minor a unique sound, additional adjustments were made to raise the 6th to a major 6th and creating the melodic minor. The table below shows the relationship between the natural minor, harmonic minor and melodic minor.
| Minor Scales | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Natural | 1 | 2o | b3 | 4- | 5- | b6 | b7 | 1 |
| Harmonic | 1 | 2o | b3 | 4- | 5- | b6 | 7 | 1 |
| Melodic | 1 | 2o | b3 | 4- | 5- | 6 | 7 | 1 |
We will dig deeper into the different minor scales and chord substitutions from parallel keys (modes) in future blogs
Closing
We expanded on the concept of functional harmony and presented some additional discussing from some YouTube music theory sources. Overall, the main takeaway is the build up of tension and release that gives a chord progression, a song, its emotion.
In the next blog we will discuss the harmonic and melodic minor scales, and discussion borrowed chords from a parallel minor keys. Ultimately we are building you a tool chest full of tools to help you take your songwriting to the next level
Useful Links on functional harmony, harmonic cadences, and chord progressions
