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In music theory
Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the " rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (k ...
, ''tertian'' ( la, tertianus, "of or concerning thirds") describes any piece
Piece or Pieces (not to be confused with peace) may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Games
* Piece (chess), pieces deployed on a chessboard for playing the game of chess
* ''Pieces'' (video game), a 1994 puzzle game for the Super NES
* ...
, chord, counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...
etc. constructed from the intervals
Interval may refer to:
Mathematics and physics
* Interval (mathematics), a range of numbers
** Partially ordered set#Intervals, its generalization from numbers to arbitrary partially ordered sets
* A statistical level of measurement
* Interval est ...
of (major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
and minor) thirds. An interval such as that between the notes A and C encompasses 3 semitone
A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically.
It is defined as the interval between two adjacent n ...
intervals (A-B-B-C) and is termed a minor third while one such as that between C and E encompasses 4 semitones (C-D-D-E-E) and is called a major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
third. Tertian harmony (also called tertiary harmony ) principally uses chords based on thirds; the term is typically used to contrast with quartal and quintal harmony
In music, quartal harmony is the building of Harmony, harmonic structures built from the Interval (music), intervals of the perfect fourth, the tritone, augmented fourth and the diminished fourth. For instance, a three-note quartal chord on C can ...
which uses chords based on fourths or fifths.
A common triad chord can be regarded as consisting of a "stack" of two consecutive thirds. This allows for four permutations, each producing a chord with distinct quality
Quality may refer to:
Concepts
*Quality (business), the ''non-inferiority'' or ''superiority'' of something
* Quality (philosophy), an attribute or a property
* Quality (physics), in response theory
* Energy quality, used in various science disci ...
:
A musical scale may also be analyzed as a succession of thirds.
The meantone temperament
Meantone temperament is a musical temperament, that is a tuning system, obtained by narrowing the fifths so that their ratio is slightly less than 3:2 (making them ''narrower'' than a perfect fifth), in order to push the thirds closer to pure. Mea ...
, a system of tuning that emphasizes pure thirds, may be called "tertian".
Chords built from sixths may also be referred to as tertian because sixths are equivalent to thirds when inverted, and vice versa: any sixth can be taken as the inversion of a third. For instance, the interval C-A is a major sixth that, when inverted, gives the interval A-C, which is a minor third.
Tertian root movements have been used innovatively in chord progressions as an alternative to root motion in fifths, as for example in the "thirds cycle" used in John Coltrane's Coltrane changes
Coltrane changes (Coltrane Matrix or cycle, also known as chromatic third relations and multi-tonic changes) are a harmonic progression variation using substitute chords over common jazz chord progressions. These substitution patterns were first d ...
, as influenced by Nicolas Slonimsky
Nicolas Slonimsky ( – December 25, 1995), born Nikolai Leonidovich Slonimskiy (russian: Никола́й Леони́дович Сло́нимский), was a Russian-born American conductor, author, pianist, composer and lexicographer. B ...
's ''Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns''.
See also
*Major and minor
In Western music, the adjectives major and minor may describe a chord, scale, or key. As such, composition, movement, section, or phrase may be referred to by its key, including whether that key is major or minor.
Intervals
Some intervals ...
* Mediant In music, the mediant (''Latin'': to be in the middle) is the third scale degree () of a diatonic scale, being the note halfway between the tonic and the dominant.Benward & Saker (2003), p.32. In the movable do solfège system, the mediant note i ...
and submediant
In music, the submediant is the sixth degree () of a diatonic scale. The submediant ("lower mediant") is named thus because it is halfway between tonic and subdominant ("lower dominant") or because its position below the tonic is symmetrical to ...
* Secundal
In music or music theory, secundal is the quality of a chord made from seconds, and anything related to things constructed from seconds such as counterpoint. Secundal chords are often called tone clusters more generally, especially when non-dia ...
* Quartal
* Polychord
In music and music theory, a polychord consists of two or more chords, one on top of the other. In shorthand they are written with the top chord above a line and the bottom chord below,Policastro, Michael A. (1999). ''Understanding How to Build ...
References