The second

inversion Inversion or inversions may refer to: Arts * , a French gay magazine (1924/1925) * ''Inversion'' (artwork), a 2005 temporary sculpture in Houston, Texas * Inversion (music), a term with various meanings in music theory and musical set theory * ...

of a chord is the voicing of a triad,

seventh chord A seventh chord is a chord consisting of a triad plus a note forming an interval of a seventh above the chord's root. When not otherwise specified, a "seventh chord" usually means a dominant seventh chord: a major triad together with a minor ...

, or

ninth chord In music theory, a ninth chord is a chord that encompasses the interval of a ninth when arranged in close position with the root in the bass. Heinrich Schenker and also Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov allowed the substitution of the dominant seve ...

in which the fifth of the chord is the

bass note In music theory, the bass note of a chord or sonority is the lowest note played or notated. If there are multiple voices it is the note played or notated in the lowest voice (the note furthest in the bass.) Three situations are possible: # ...

. In this inversion, the bass note and the

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...

of the chord are a fourth apart which traditionally qualifies as a dissonance. There is therefore a tendency for movement and resolution. In notation form, it is referred to with a c following the chord position (For e.g., Ic. Vc or IVc). In

figured bass Figured bass is musical notation in which numerals and symbols appear above or below (or next to) a bass note. The numerals and symbols (often accidentals) indicate intervals, chords, and non-chord tones that a musician playing piano, harpsic ...

, a second-inversion triad is a chord (as in I), while a second-inversion seventh chord is a chord. Note that any voicing above the bass is allowed. A second inversion chord must have the fifth

chord factor In music, a factor or chord factor is a member or component of a chord. These are named root, third, fifth, sixth, seventh, ninth (compound 2nd), eleventh (compound 4th), thirteenth (compound 6th), and so on, for their generic interval a ...

in the bass, but it may have any arrangement of the root and third above that, including doubled notes, compound intervals, and omission (G-C-E, G-C-E-G', G-E-G-C'-E', etc.)

Examples

In the second inversion of a C-

major triad In music theory, a major chord is a chord that has a root, a major third, and a perfect fifth. When a chord comprises only these three notes, it is called a major triad. For example, the major triad built on C, called a C major triad, has pitch ...

, the bass is G — the fifth of the triad — with the root and third stacked above it, forming the intervals of a fourth and a sixth above the inverted bass of G, respectively. : In the second inversion of a G

dominant seventh chord In music theory, a dominant seventh chord, or major minor seventh chord, is a seventh chord, usually built on the fifth degree of the major scale, and composed of a root, major third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh. Thus it is a major triad tog ...

, the bass note is D, the fifth of the seventh chord. :

Types

There are four types of second-inversion chords: cadential, passing,

auxiliary Auxiliary may refer to: * A backup site or system In language * Auxiliary language (disambiguation) * Auxiliary verb In military and law enforcement * Auxiliary police * Auxiliaries, civilians or quasi-military personnel who provide support of ...

, and bass

arpeggiation A broken chord is a chord broken into a sequence of notes. A broken chord may repeat some of the notes from the chord and span one or more octaves. An arpeggio () is a type of broken chord, in which the notes that compose a chord are played ...

Cadential

Cadential second-inversion chords are typically used in the

authentic cadence In Western musical theory, a cadence (Latin ''cadentia'', "a falling") is the end of a phrase in which the melody or harmony creates a sense of full or partial resolution, especially in music of the 16th century onwards.Don Michael Randel (199 ...

I-V-I, or one of its variation, like I-V-I. In this form, the chord is sometimes referred to as a ''cadential '' chord. The chord preceding I is most often a chord that would introduce V as a weak to strong progression, for example, making -II-V into II-I-V or making IV-V into IV-I-V. : The cadential can be analyzed in two ways: the first labels it as a second-inversion chord, while the second treats it instead as part of a horizontal progression involving

voice leading Voice leading (or part writing) is the linear progression of individual melodic lines ( voices or parts) and their interaction with one another to create harmonies, typically in accordance with the principles of common-practice harmony and counte ...

above a stationary bass. # In the first designation, the cadential chord features the progression: -V-I. Most older harmony textbooks use this label, and it can be traced back to the early 19th century. # In the second designation, this chord is ''not'' considered an inversion of a tonic triad but as a dissonance resolving to a consonant dominant harmony. This is notated as -I, in which the is not the inversion of the V chord but a

double appoggiatura An appoggiatura ( , ; german: Vorschlag or ; french: port de voix) is a musical ornament that consists of an added non-chord note in a melody that is resolved to the regular note of the chord. By putting the non-chord tone on a strong beat, ( ...

on the V that resolves down by step to (that is, -V). This function is very similar to the resolution of a 4–3

suspension Suspension or suspended may refer to: Science and engineering * Suspension (topology), in mathematics * Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics * Suspension of a ring, in mathematics * Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspend ...

. Several modern textbooks prefer this conception of the cadential , which can also be traced back to the early 19th century.Arnold, F.T. ''The art of accompaniment from a thorough-bass'', Vol. 1, p. 314. . quoted in Beach, David (1967). "The functions of the six-four chord in tonal music", p.7, ''Journal of Music Theory'', 11(1).

Passing

In a progression with a passing second-inversion chord, the bass passes between two tones a third apart (usually of the same

harmonic function In mathematics, mathematical physics and the theory of stochastic processes, a harmonic function is a twice continuously differentiable function f: U \to \mathbb R, where is an open subset of that satisfies Laplace's equation, that is, : \f ...

Gauldin, Robert (1997). ''Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music'' New York: W.W. Norton & Company, pg 273. ). When moving from I to I, the

passing chord In music, a passing chord is a chord that connects, or passes between, the notes of two diatonic chords. "Any chord that moves between one diatonic chord and another one nearby may be loosely termed a passing chord. A diatonic passing chord ma ...

V is placed between them – though some prefer VII to V – creating stepwise motion in the bass (

scale degrees In music theory, the scale degree is the position of a particular note on a scale relative to the tonic, the first and main note of the scale from which each octave is assumed to begin. Degrees are useful for indicating the size of intervals an ...

– – ). It can also be used in the reverse direction: I-V-I. The important point is that the V chord functions as a passing chord between the two more stable chords. It occurs on the weaker beat between these two chords. The upper voices usually move in step (or remain stationary) in this progression. :

Auxiliary (or pedal)

In a progression with an auxiliary (or pedal) second-inversion chord, the IV chord functions as the harmonization of a neighbor note in the progression, I-IV-I. In this progression, the third and fifth rise a step each and then fall back, creating a harmonization for the scale degrees – – in the top voice. :

Bass arpeggiation

In this progression, the bass arpeggiates the root, third, and fifth of the chord. This is just a florid movement but since the fifth is present in the bass, it is referred to as a bass arpeggiation flavour of the second inversion. :

Examples

Types

Cadential

Passing

Auxiliary (or pedal)

Bass arpeggiation

See also

References

Further reading