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Triad (music)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In music, a triad is a set of three notes (or "pitches")

that can be stacked vertically in thirds.[1] The term
"harmonic triad" was coined by Johannes Lippius in
his "Synopsis musicae novae" (1612).
Types of triads: I, i, io , I+
When stacked in thirds, notes produce triadic chords.
The triad's members, from lowest-pitched tone to
highest, are called:[1]

the root
the third – its interval above the root being a minor third (three semitones) or a major third
(four semitones)
the fifth – its interval above the third being a minor third or a major third, hence its interval
above the root being a diminished fifth (six semitones), perfect fifth (seven semitones), or
augmented fifth (eight semitones). Perfect fifths are the most commonly used interval above
the root in Classical music and Western popular music and traditional music.

(Note: The notes of a triad do not have to use the root as the lowest note of the chord, due to the
principle of inversion. A triad can also use the third or fifth as the lowest note of the chord.
Inverting a chord does not change the root note.)

Some twentieth-century theorists, notably Howard Hanson[2] and Carlton Gamer,[3] expand the
term to refer to any combination of three different pitches, regardless of the intervals amongst them.
The word used by other theorists for this more general concept is "trichord".[4] Others, notably
Allen Forte, use the term to refer to combinations apparently stacked of other intervals, as in
"quartal triad".[5]

In the late Renaissance music era, and especially during the Baroque music era (1600-1750),
Western art music shifted from more "horizontal" contrapuntal approach (in which multiple,
independent melody lines were interwoven) toward chord progressions, which were sequences of
chords. The chord progression approach, which was the foundation of Baroque-era basso continuo
accompaniment, required a more "vertical" approach, thus relying more heavily on the triad as the
basic building block of functional harmony.

The root tone of a triad, together with the degree of the scale to which it corresponds, primarily
determine a given triad's function. Secondarily, a triad's function is determined by its quality: major,
minor, diminished or augmented. Major and minor chords are the most commonly used chord
qualities in Classical music, popular music and traditional music. In standard tonal music, only
major and minor chords can be used as a tonic in a song or piece of music. That is, a song or
instrumental piece can be in the key of C Major or A minor, but a song or piece cannot be in the

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key of B diminished or F augmented (although songs or pieces might include these chords within
the chord progression, typically in a temporary, passing role). Three of these four kinds of triads are
found in the major (or diatonic) scale. In popular music and 1700s-era Classical music, major and
minor triads are considered to be consonant and stable, and diminished and augmented triads are
considered to be dissonant and unstable.

When we consider musical works we find that the triad is ever-present and that the
interpolated dissonances have no other purpose than to effect the continuous variation of
the triad.

— Lorenz Mizler (1739), [6]

Contents
1 Construction
2 Function
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

Construction
Triads (or any other tertian chords) are built by superimposing every other note of a diatonic scale
(e.g., standard major or minor scale). For example, a C Major triad uses the notes C–E–G. This
spells a triad by skipping over D and F. While the interval from each note to the one above it is a
third, the quality of those thirds varies depending on the quality of the triad:

Major triads contain a major third and perfect fifth interval, symbolized: R 3 5 (or 0–4–7 as
semitones) play
minor triads contain a minor third, and perfect fifth, symbolized: R ♭3 5 (or 0–3–7) play
diminished triads contain a minor third, and diminished fifth, symbolized: R ♭3 ♭5 (or 0–3–6)
play
augmented triads contain a major third, and augmented fifth, symbolized: R 3 ♯5 (or 0–4–8)
play

The above definitions spell out the interval of each note above the root. Since triads are constructed
of stacked thirds, they can be alternatively defined as follows:

Major triads contain a major third with a minor third stacked above it, e.g., in the major triad
C–E–G, the interval C–E is major third and E–G is a minor third.

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minor triads contain a minor third with a major third stacked above it, e.g., in the minor triad
A–C–E (A minor), A–C is a minor third and C–E is a major third.
diminished triads contain two minor thirds stacked, e.g., B–D–F (B dim)
augmented triads contain two major thirds stacked, e.g., D–F♯–A♯ (D aug).

Function
Each triad found in a diatonic (single scale-based) key
corresponds to a particular diatonic function. Functional
harmony tends to rely heavily on the primary triads: triads built
on the tonic, subdominant (typically the ii or IV chord), and
dominant (typically the V chord) degrees.[7] The roots of these Primary triads in C Play .
triads begin on the first, fourth, and fifth degrees (respectively)
of the diatonic scale, otherwise symbolized: I, IV, and V (respectively). Primary triads, "express
function clearly and unambiguously."[7] The other triads of the diatonic key include the supertonic,
mediant, sub-mediant, and sub-tonic, whose roots begin on the second, third, sixth, and seventh
degrees (respectively) of the diatonic scale, otherwise symbolized: ii, iii, vi, and viio (respectively).
They function as auxiliary or supportive triads to the primary triads.

Major and minor triads on the white piano keys. (file)

See also
Upper structure triad – triads superimposed on another harmony

References
1. Ronald Pen, Introduction to Music (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1992), p. 81. ISBN 0-07-038068-6. "A
triad is a chord consisting of three notes built on successive intervals of a third. A triad can be
constructed upon any note by adding alternating notes drawn from the scale."
2. Howard Hanson, Harmonic Materials of Modern Music: Resources of the Tempered Scale (New York:

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Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1960)
3. Carlton Gamer, "Some Combinational Resources of Equal-Tempered Systems", Journal of Music
Theory 11, no. 1 (Spring 1967): pp. 37, 46, 50–52.
4. Julien Rushton, "Trichord", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited
by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).
5. Allen Forte, The Structure of Atonal Music (https://books.google.com/books/about
/The_Structure_of_Atonal_Music.html?id=j9aV2JYHY4AC) (New Haven and London: Yale University
Press, 1973): ISBN 0-300-02120-8
6. Quoted in Allen Forte, Tonal Harmony in Concept and Practice, third edition (New York: Holt, Rinehart
and Winston, 1979), p. 136. ISBN 0-03-020756-8.
7. Daniel Harrison, Harmonic Function in Chromatic Music: A Renewed Dualist Theory and an Account of
its Precedents (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), p. 45. ISBN 0-226-31808-7. Cited in
Deborah Rifkin. "A Theory of Motives for Prokofiev's Music", Music Theory Spectrum, Vol. 26, No. 2
(Autumn, 2004), pp. 265–89, citation on p. 274.

External links
fretjam Guitar Theory - Triads on Guitar (http://www.fretjam.com/guitar-chord-theory.html)

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