Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum Augmented 6th chords

There have been some questions about them, so I thought this might be a good place for disussing them.

I have some ideas but would prefer to see some discussion first before adding.

Chords that fall into this category:

German 6th
French 6th
Italian 6th

Other chords that are spelled like the German 6th but that do not resolve to the same place.

Thoughts?

Does this include the Neapolitan 6th, too?

Oh wait, never mind. Neapolitan sixth isn't augmented.

You have the wrong concept.

Neopolitan 6th means major chord, built on lowered 2, is in first inversion:

It is like this: bII6 or N6.

But you can have an augmented 6th chord built on flat 2, the degree. Do you need an example, a link?

Well, of course I'd love an example!

But I can manufacture the chord itself now: e.g. in C major, augmented 6th built on flat 2 would be Db, F, Ab, B. And we would expect it to resolve outwards to C E G C. Or possibly to C F A C. Or so I gather. Oh wait, resolving to C E G C would give us paralell fifths, in Db to C and Ab to G. So maybe it can only resolve to C F A C. This is for a German 6th, that has all the triad bells and whistles.

And that would mean the variants e.g. Italian 6th omitting the fifth are there precisely so you can resolve to C E C (with G omitted) without getting parallel fifths.

I've been reading about augmented sixth chords, just enough to make me very curious about them, but hopeful of finally understanding them. (I first saw these names several years ago, and they made no sense at all then.)

How come (on the other thread) you seemed to express reservations about writing say Db(#6)? You seemed to imply that only Db(7) was a legal name. But Db(#6) seems perfectly clear to me. Or did I misunderstand that you were hesitating about the #6 notation?

Now I'm not sure if I've got that fully right, but that's what I think so far, minus trying to proofread this post for a fifth time.

My first reaction to the title of "augmented sixth" is simplistic, but I also like to start with simplicity. I know the aug6 is a semitone above a major 6, and sounds like a minor 7. Meanwhile the minor 7 is an extremely important interval because it occurs in "dominant 7 chords" which have that tritone through the 7 creating a restlesness that wants resolution. In my theory books we are to constantly draw arrows showing the downward movement of that 7. Except this time we have a 6 that sounds like that 7, and I understand it doesn't move down. Meanwhile if I play an aug 6 chord, it sounds to my ear just like the dom7 but it is spelled differently.

This is a very basic sense of "what it is" before it has a function or goes anywhere.

My theory text says they are usually pre-dominant chords, resolving to the dominant of the key. An example in c minor is
It+6: Ab, C, F#, C (Ab to F# being the +6) to
V: G, D, G, B.
Thus the + 6 resolves outward to an octave (on the 5th degree).
So, the Ab resolves down to G while the F# resolves up to G.

The Italian +6 has the tonic doubled, the French includes the 2nd scale degree, and the German has the 3rd scale degree. The latter, to avoid parallel 5ths, has to resolve to the dominant by going through i 64.
--
Jack

The only way I could make sense of these concepts was to think in terms of jazz theory and the role of tritones and tritone substitution. These are the key points that help me remember how these chords work:

- they are built on the flatted sixth degree of the scale, so in C major, they are built on Ab

- they often resolve to the V chord, which makes sense when you look at the tritones present in each aug6 chord.

- Ger6 is a 7 chord spelled funny. You take the flatted sixth scale degree, and add a major third, a perfect fifth and an augmented sixth. so in C major, it's an Ab7 chord but spelled Ab C Eb F#. And it makes sense that it resolves to G, because it has the same tritone as a D7 chord.

- Fr6 is like a II7b5 chord. You take the flatted sixth scale degree, add a major third, an augmented fourth and an augmented sixth, which gives you Ab C D F#, which I unscramble in my brain to get D F# Ab C, making D7b5. And because it is a D7, it makes sense that it resolves to G.

- It6 .. well, i had no good way to explain it, so I just memorized the rule. You take the flatted sixth scale degree, and add a major third and an augmented sixth (in four part harmony, the third is usually doubled .. the third is also the tonic). So you get Ab C F#. Again you have that tritone from a D7 chord, which natural resolves to G.

Beethoven 5th, First Movement, Italian 6th chord
The Italian 6th chord is in Meausure 20. It is always useful to have a real example from famous music to illustrate something that otherwise would be only "theory".

My instruction was 100% traditional. My only exposure to jazz was through some of my brass playing friends, but I didn't actually do any playing. I was forced, against my will, to gig in my 20s. I hated it, at first. It was not the music I loved, and I sucked at it. It was all about paying bills. But that changed, totally.

After I finally stopped gigging, my whole attitude towards music changed. I still loved the music I loved as a kid, as a teen, as an early 20-something. But I got to add a whole new set of skills to what I knew, what I could do. The biggest thing that changed was this: when I talk about theory with other musicians, it is almost always with jazz/pop players. I know stuff that most of them don't know, but they know a HUGE amount of stuff I don't know, and I'm still learning.

This is what I teach.

Again, this is practical. And with that point of view, the same thing happens from bII to I. Example, using Db(#6) in place of Db7, to show spelling:

Db(#6) to C. In my experience, using chord symbols, the fact that the Db(#6)chord will use B, because the melody will move smoothly from B to C, is a matter of smooth notation, elegance, and has nothing to do with that sound of the two chords, separately. It is all about how they work together. It is logical because it looks smooth, on paper.

And it will have the same kind of movement as D7/A to C/G. Here we have, in traditional theory, V of V moving to a I 6/4 chord. Reasoning backwards, lowering the A to Ab is D7-5/Ab to C/G. But that is also Ab7-5, so we have the tritone exchange. I spent thousands of dollars to get a degree, and I did not get taught that. I learned that from some very fine jazz players, for free.

If you look at what I wrote, I think we are saying exactly the same thing.

That last part is easy. It comes from the insistance that parallel 5ths are to be avoided, at any cost, and in Bach's SATB work, the reasons become pretty clear. It does not SOUND good. So by lowering the 5th (Fr6) or by throwing out the 5 altogether, parallel 5ths are gone. Which is why I uploaded the link to Beethoven's 5th. His first big cadence is Ab(#6), no third, to G7, no third.
My thinking, apparently, is so close to yours that I would have written much of what you wrote, if I had been able to sum it up so neatly.

Chopin Prelude in Bb Minor
There it is.

P.7 in the score, P. 13 in the pdf file. Last line. Cb(#6)/Bb moving to Bbm, then finally Cb(#6)/Bb to Bb. Watch the neat way he brings it down in the third to last measure.


By the time of Chopin, parallel 5ths were no longer avoided at all cost. Cb---Gb to Bb---F is about as parallel as you can get. Rules were more strictly applied, and in many cases still are, in choral music.

Correct.

The implication has been that I have been misleading people, that armed with what I teach, my students would be laughed at in a formal theory class. Db7 is standard, and you don't use parentheses. Db(#6) is either my invention or something I came up with, to fill a gap, that may have been used by other people without my ever having seen it.

It could get messy here: Db7-5 or Db7b5 would become Db(#6)-5 or Db(#6)(b5). That notation would make me stumble. Db7b5 I can read faster. In my world, letter chords do not honor spelling. They are what they are, and we decide upon spelling (and function) by context. And I will continue to teach that.

There are standard chord symbols for any 7 chord with a flat 5, and it is only called a French 6th with the variant spelling. I have already explained my reasoning. Variations in spelling are often used to make notation more elegant, more streamlined, because of voice leading. I continue to believe that where chords go define how they function, not how they are spelled. And I continue to believe that ultimately "correct" spellings becomes obvious, not SOLELY because rules or rudiments, but because comparison with other spellings shows them to work best. I am not denying that rules are helpful, only that there comes a time when we have to get BEHIND the rules when the rules do not explain everything.

To sum up, if someone writes Db7, with a Cb, moving to C, you will still know what is happening. Same thing with Db7-5 with a Cb. But if you are writing music yourself, or if you are teaching notation, you will switch that Cb to a B, and you will be able to explain why you did it.

I want to be VERY careful.

Is anything I wrote misleading? Unclear? Over the last few days I have begun to doubt myself.

So far I do not see simplistic. I see a simple fact.

Until I find out how to upload files, I can't do this in notation.

Let's use an Ab7 as good "example seven chord".

The first and most obvious place it wants to go is to Db. We all know that. The only reason to respell that root is if we change "mode" by deciding to move to C#m, then set up the key of C# minor. This happens in Chopin's C# Minor Waltz, the famous one. If someone needs a link, I will add one.

Other than that, change of root would be rare, and we would not want to change the triad itself except for some weird reason that I can't imagine right now.

So what we are really concerned with are two things:

Is the chord contracting - with the Gb coming down 1/2 step?

Or is it expanding, with the Gb wanting to go UP 1/2 step? If it goes up, we will end up changing its spelling to F# for reasons linked to the chromatic scale: When possible, avoid going up 1/2 step, by sound, using an augmented unison. It forces an extra accidental, which is messy. Gb going to G natural is ugly and unintuitive compared with F# going to G.

1) Contracting examples: Ab7 to Db, Ab7 to Abdim7. Ab7 to F7/A.

(Note: contrary to theoretical rules, it is likely that you will see Ab7 contract to a dim7 spelling with F on the top, same reasoning: Gb to Gbb is ugly. If you subscribe that we MUST label a dim7 by its root, you would have to rename your resulting dim7 chord, then use a slash to show the root. I have never seen that done with letter notation.)

2) Expanding examples: Ab7 to C/G, Ab7 to Cm/G, Ab7 to G. There the expansion makes a change from Gb to F# both far more common and easier to notate (fewer symbols). For obvious reasons, this movement can go towards a Gsus or a Gaug chord.

If we agree that by "dom7" we mean any chord that has that sound and that spelling, even if it is not a V7 chord, then I agree.

Gary, thank you for the Chopin (and the Beethoven) examples. The Chopin is spectacular! (Once I figured out that you meant Bbm, not Bm.)

Everything you said makes sense to me. Thank you for explaining about the letter symbols.

The Beethoven Italian 6th is so very dramatically placed.. I wonder if I can hear it, and hear the following chord. That is, hear them as something with a unique character, more than just notes.

I am amazed and impressed by all the examples you have. It's like you have a mental filing cabinet of all the notation you've ever seen, and can pull it up at will to illustrate any point as needed.

My typing sucks. If I type something long, it will be incomprehensible unless I make myself read it out loud before posting it. The weird thing is that I am an excellent proof-reader for other people.

I actually wanted to have a go at the Satie, the first one in the set. My first impression is that it could be renotated to read easily without detracting one whit from the music itself.

In Bach and Mozart the writing is usually so incredibly clear. At that time it is as if composers assumed:

1) Good players would play their music well without too many directions.
2) Poor ones would mess it up, no matter what.

By the time we hit the 19th century, the custom seemed to have moved towards "micro-managing". It is almost as if composers thought that IF they could put enough detailed instructions into their music, it would guarantee that their music would not be butchered.

Often in their attempt to make their thoughts crystal clear I think they actually drive us away from what they had in mind - overkill.

Satie didn't so that with directions, but he certainly did with flats!

The remarkable thing about aug 6ths is that at the point of sounding they want to resolve in a way very different from their corresponding 7th chords. Aug 6ths rarely present an ambiguity where we have to wait for a resolution to clarify. The expectations set up by aug 6ths are rarely subverted by composers in their resolutions unlike in the case of 7ths. What follows a harmony may be determined (by no means always) by that harmony but a subsequent never defines what precedes it; if anything it can only define a specific context. Aug 6ths in tonal music are functional chords which can, depending on context, be dramatic and striking or so smooth as to be almost over-looked. A further strange thing about aug 6ths is that what they demand in resolution doesn't seem to be a result of cultural conditioning, which might be argued for the far more common 7th chords.


John

See if this works, Gary (presumably it will work for a scan of music, too.)

Monica's How to post a photo instructions

1.) First step, and this is critical, resize your photos to about 450-600 pixels. You accomplish this through photoshop or some other photo editing software. My father in law did this part of the process for me so I can't help you any more than that, but I do gather that it's very important to do the resizing BEFORE you upload the photos.

2.) Then go to the PianoWorld uploading site:

http://www.pianoworld.com/Uploads/fileuploader2.html

This is going to give you a screen where you enter your login name, e-mail address, and then you browse for the location of your photo on your computer which you then attach. There will also be a box that says "file information". I have no idea what they really want there, but I just made up a title like 'first picture of new piano." Then you click submit. That is going to bring you to a new screen that will ask you to search for your name among submitters. This is the most confusing part of the process, because that part of the web site is not working and you will not find your name there. Just ignore it, and instead go back to the main file uploader site and repeat the process for each of your remaining photos.

3.) Within a few minutes, you should receive an e-mail from PianoWorld giving you the URL for your newly uploaded photos. You'll get one e-mail per photo. You will need to copy and paste these URLs into your message.

4.) To do that, go back to the thread where you want to post your photo. Click on the "full reply" box. This will bring up all the options you need. Write whatever text you want, and when you're ready to include the photo, click on the little blue-shaded box below called "image" (under the column 'instant UBB code'). That will pull up a little box in your message where you can paste the URL for your first photo. And then just repeat as necessary. But it is CRUCIAL to click that little "image" box; otherwise, all that goes in is the URL itself, not the photo in all its glory.

Currawong,

Many thanks. THIS time I save the directions both on my hard drive and on a back-up. Note to self - do what we tall students - Put things in the right place!

Gary

That is probably true, but there is no reason why we can't have this, in a composition clearly written in the key of C:

G7 [G(#6)] or G Ge6 can be used to slide down 1/2 step, either to reorient in the key of F# major/minor OR to move through that chord through F# to B major or B minor, either temporily, or for a long time. The sneakier the composer, the more stealthy he can be about sliding chromatically.

The German 6th spelling signals an expasion of the root and the augmented 6th. The result is a downward movement, 1/2 step.

If we are in the key of C and the use Ab Ge6, it is like another kind if "deception". We are going to Db, oops, no we aren't - we are sliding right back to C major.

If, on the other hand, we are clearly in the key of Db major, that same Ab Ge6 will not alert us that it is going to "slither down" until the next chord. The spelling, if we are reading the music, will alert us in advance to what the composer is up to.

You lost me there. "A subsequent never defines what precedes it"??? Could you give a musical example?

G7 chord - or is it?

Measure 6:

G7 chord.

1) It's not really a German 6th, because it's spelled wrong.
2) It really IS a German 6th, but Chopin was too stupid to write it correctly - (silly ignorant man wrote cool sounding music but did not know his rudiments).
3) Chopin really DID know what he was doing, and chose the spelling that seemed clearest to him.
4) Chopin dumbed down the notation because he was making it easier for students to read.
5) It's really an early composition, so he had not yet learned his rudiments.
6) I have no respect for the composer because I even brought up this point.

All sarcasm above is fully intentional.

"You lost me there. "A subsequent never defines what precedes it"??? Could you give a musical example?"


That's not a reasonable request - disingenuous? - the opposite view is illogical and not thought through. A subsequent may clarify a context it may subvert an expectation it may fulfil an expectation. It doesn't define what precedes it. If you want to argue otherwise you w ill be either indulging some weird semantics or sophistry.

John