Adding triadic harmony to ground bass
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Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can apply triadic harmony to a ground bass.
Key learning points
- Triadic harmony is using triad chords to add harmony to a piece of music.
- The triad is the root, third and fifth of a chord.
- There are seven chords in the scale. The most used chords are the primary chords I, IV, and V.
- To add triadic harmony to a ground bass pattern, choose chords which have the bass note as part of the chord.
Keywords
Triadic harmony - harmony built on thirds, using the root, third and fifths notes of the scale
Chord - two or more notes played together at the same time
Root - the main note of the chord and the note the chord is named after (e.g. the root note of a C major chord is C)
Primary chords - the three main chords in the scale - I, IV and V
Common misconception
When adding chords to a bass line, the chord has to be the same as the note in the bass.
In most cases the bass note should be one of the notes in the chord, but doesn't always have to be the lowest note of the chord. For a balanced chord sequence most notes in the bass lines should be the root, but not all have to be.
Teacher tip
The task could be adapted to compose in other keys (or instruments). The play one, miss one, play one, miss one, play one pattern only works for triads which use the white notes on the keyboard. More explanation would be required for pupils to transfer this to other keys.
Equipment
Keyboard instrument
Licence
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