Chord Relationships and Emotion

[Caustic]

Hello all.

I finally got around to scanning a book im working on. This is a very rough scan of just the notebook. Im presenting it here for review and use. It contains a lot of theorycrafting of my own, so bear that in mind. A good portion of this is subjective to me, but may still be valuable.

There is a plan to revise and actually make this into a proper document, but in case i never get around to it, i figure at least it wasn’t for nothing and if its usable for others great.

Here is a link:

Chord_Relationships_and_Emotion_-_Caustic.pdf

WHAT IS IN THE BOOK:
This book contains:

1. A reference of many chords built off of the modes from Major, Natural Minor, Harmonic Minor, and Melodic Minor in the key of C.
2. An explanation of intervals with example tunes to help identify these intervals by ear. Additionally, I pair these up with very general feelings (subjective) that i feel with those intervals in isolation. We cover the names of thee intervals, and their inversions.
3. Introduce the concept of “Chord Relationships” (CR). These are comprised of two chord qualities (this book only covers major and minor), and an interval between them. The notation in the book uses a lowecase “m” for minor, and an uppercase “M” for major. Additionally, the intervals are signified with roman numerals, and a major interval uses the same “uppercase” roman numerals used when discussing chords. for example, a major 3rd interval is represented like this “III”. The CR is noted thusly: “M IV+ m” means a major chord, followed by a minor chord, with an augmented 4th (tritone) apart.
4. We then cover every single combination of chord qualities and intervals, describing the feeling they give. This has helped me a lot because even if its somewhat subjective, its still a helpful starting point to pick CRs.
5. This book describes a methodology that does not require that you think of harmony from a scale or mode perspective FIRST. Meaning, you never have to start by looking at available chords in your scale. You pick a key, then a CR. That CR ends with a chord quality, so then, you just pick another CR that begins with that chord quality and it will still work. You can do very complex things that would normally be modal interchange, borrowed chords, etc but its just the same process.

If there is interest, i can run through a few examples since i do not include them in the book. Bear in mind, all scales included as reference do so from the key of C, and all CRs in the back of the book begin with C as the tonic of the chord. In practice, the tonic of the first chord of any given CR will be the same as what you left off from, or if you are just beginning, whatever you want.

[Bitnik]

This is very useful and timely for me as I’m really learning a lot of theory in earnest for the first time as I start to play seriously. Thank you.

[Dud]

Nice work, just maybe I’ll add some details to differentiate the same chords in the major scale.
'Cause we get these 4-note chords
M7 / m7 / m7 / M7 / 7 / m7 / m7 5-

if you want to hear the unique color of each mode in the chords, you can still add certain notes.

Majors:
Mixolydian is only Major with a minor seventh.
And to differentiate the two M7:
the Lydian is like the Ionian but with an augmented fourth (4# or 11#)

minors:
Locrian is the only one with a diminished fifth
And to differentiate the three remaining m7 :
the Dorian mode is similar to the Aeolian but with a Major sixth = an m6 or m13 chord (if it add to the 7th)
the Phrygian is like the Aeolian but with a minor second

making :

M7 / m6 / m7(2m) / M7 11# / 7 / m7 / m7 5b

[Caustic]

in my section about the modes of major, i actually order the modes by “brightness” which essentially enumerates the number of sharps and flats diff from major. I also order the intervals where the most unique interval for the mode is always at the right most side.

And the names of modes ive chosen tend to show whats different from existing modes, but i also show less complex names alongside.

Also take the visual here where you can see the diff between the natural minor (aeolean mode) and Harmonic Minor (Aeolian natural 7).
That natural 7 affects the III, changing it from a major to an augmented chord. The i chord should be from a min7 to a min(maj)7, thats a typo. I need to double check the 7th intervals for errors like this.

[Caustic]

Practical Example of Application

Its specifically a non-diatonic harmonic approach, I wrote subjective adjectives of what those chord relationships felt like to me. The idea being, to use those feelings to chain into more complex feels. Its more free than starting with a scale, but you still need a key. With that comes less structure, so what i tend to do is keep a key and scale in mind, so that writing melodies is not as hard, and just emphasize the chord tones when they deviate from the scale

So far, i only cover major and minor triad chord combinations

as in:
major to major
minor to minor
major to minor
minor to major

the difference is one note.

the major chord has a major 3rd interval
the minor has a minor 3rd interval

with the basic triads, thats the second note

cmajor: C E G
cminor: C Eb G

the E is 4 half steps away

the Eb is 3 half steps away

Half steps are one step of the 12 notes we use in western music. So from E to Eb is 1 half step down. The distance between these are called “intervals” and they have bs names you just gotta learn.

What i did was map out the relationships of all intervals, and all combinations of major and minor chords to come up with the lowest level atomic harmony palette.

“this chord to this chord”

the notation is: M iii m
this means:
Major chord, then a minor chord which is a minor 3rd above it.

lower case m is minor, upper case M is major
the numeral in the middle is the interval between them, and is upper for a major, and lower for a minor

so if the major chord in that example was CMaj:
minor 3rd interval == 3 half steps
C => Eb (three half steps away; C, Db, D, Eb) (edited)

so starting with C:
M iii mCmaj => Ebmin

that sounds like this:

i did this for every combination
and i listened to the relationship on loop and interpreted them in my own journal of feelings

this relationship to me feels:
Sinister, Tense, Mysterious, Disbelief, Disheartened, Distress, Fear, Moody, Suspense

those are tags i added to this relationship in my book
so, i can browse my collection of chord relationships and build from that

i know it ended with a minor, so then to continue writing a progression, i can pick a chord relationship that begins with a minor chord

so any of the “Minor → Minor” or “Minor → Major” combos, and any interval. basically 22 chords

unless i want to include “stay on this chord relationship”

anyways, i can pick another set of chords with that limit and just start from the minor we left off from

so:
M iii m V M

Cmaj Ebmin BbMaj

since BbMaj is a perfect 5th (7 halfsteps) away from Eb and is a maj chord

Terms i have for:
m V M
“Bittersweet, Classical”

Now, i have NO idea what this actually sounds like in my head right now, but leading from what i described as mysterious tense, and fear to one that is bittersweet could sound good so im just picking it at random for the example

ill put together an example of what this sounds like

see, it just works

i just picked that randomly based on description and some simple rules. the last part is, notice that this sounds good when repeated. The last step is using this method to examine not only the relationship of the measure you are writing, but also between the last chord in the measure and what comes up next, that also has a feel.

Cmaj Ebmin BbMaj since this is repeated, the last chord is BbMaj and right after it is Cmaj again

Bb is 2 steps away from C

that is called a major 2nd

so, when you repeat the same chords

in between the two phrases, there is an implied [M II M] between themM iii m V M (II) M iii m V M

and what i have for what
M II M
sounds like:
“hopeful, joyous, wonderment, determined, calm, bliss, strong, protagonistic etc etc”

So, to describe this chord progression with words i have, its: Disheartened, uncertain to feelings of bittersweet upliting, but when repeated, that bittersweetness becomes hopeful and determined to try again

But its simple to change that last feeling that resolves to determination to a feeling of dread by simply changing from repeating the phrase to using another phrase.

I used this method when developing the following track:

What I did was transcribe and learn what common CRs were used in music of this style, and exploit that knowledge.

[Dud]

Yes actually it’s just a different way of comparing modes.

You compared each note that changes based on the Ionian, so you don’t specify that the 6th is M in the Dorian (“Dorian b7 b3”)

whereas for me it seems more important because I compared minors to each other.

for learning I find it easier because there is only one note that changes in each minor mode, and only one also between each major.

but hey… it’s all personal

[Caustic]

oh no, i actually totally have a page dedicated to examining the differences between the minor scales.

I have this page as well that i use heavily to quickly count intervals for this method. i literally just count using my fingers the number of semitones.

I also have a bunch of notes from my research for making “fantasy heroic music”

classical-fantasy-heroic_themes.pdf

Here is how to read it:

[Caustic]

Here is actually how i wrote “Firelit Respite”. This is the notation i used for the harmony.

firelit_respite.pdf

How to read:

[Sonosus]

This is really really good Caustic, thank you.

(insert clip of Sam jiggling his head saying "thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou)

I’ve been meaning to read up on music theory and this might just be the catalyst for it.

Maybe I’ve mentioned him before but this guy also has some great videos on chords and intervals amongst much other synth goodness:

Venus Theory

[Caustic]

I wouldn’t say that this is very approchable for music theory novices, but if you need help just ask.

[Sonosus]

I wouldn’t call myself a novice… I can read music very well and I understand the basics of keys, transposition, chords, intervals, chord inversions, etc. it’s the tying it all together that this seems to be the next progressive step and this is the perfect resource.