{"id":5908,"date":"2011-02-11T22:31:56","date_gmt":"2011-02-12T03:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/?p=5908"},"modified":"2011-02-11T22:35:03","modified_gmt":"2011-02-12T03:35:03","slug":"the-dominant-seventh-chord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/?p=5908","title":{"rendered":"The dominant seventh chord"},"content":{"rendered":"

A famous opera critic once said “The only two elements essential for grand opera are sex and the dominant seventh chord.” Which makes a lot of sense if you think about it.<\/p>\n

I confess I am completely fascinated by the dominant seventh chord. Without that seventh, the dominant chord is pretty wimpy. For example, when you play a G chord on the piano (G B D) there is only a mild feeling that the chord “wants” to go to a C chord (C E G).<\/p>\n

But if you play a G dominant seventh chord — by adding the F, to get (G B D F) — then the sense that the chord “wants” to go to the C chord increases enormously. Why is this? What is causing the supercharging effect when you add that F note?<\/p>\n

I wonder whether it’s because the C chord is pretty much defined by that E note in the middle. Each of the notes of the G chord create a pull toward one of the notes of the C chord, but the effect is only mild:<\/p>\n

\nG → G
\nB → C
\nD →E\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But once you add that F note, suddenly two<\/i> notes are both pulling toward the E:<\/p>\n

\nG → G
\nB → C
\nD → E
\nF → E\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And that extra force creates a sense of inevitability. Suddenly the G dominant seventh chord wants<\/i> to transition to the C, with a real sense of urgency.<\/p>\n

I’m convinced its all about those two notes (the D and the F) both wanting to go to the E. Call it a hunch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A famous opera critic once said “The only two elements essential for grand opera are sex and the dominant seventh chord.” Which makes a lot of sense if you think about it. I confess I am completely fascinated by the dominant seventh chord. Without that seventh, the dominant chord is pretty wimpy. For example, when … Continue reading “The dominant seventh chord”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5908"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5908"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5912,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5908\/revisions\/5912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}