• Figured Bass 101: Introduction To Choral Style Inversions

    in Chords & Progressions,Piano

    chorale style

    Rearranging the notes of a chord creates its inversions.

    Inversion is an interesting technique that can help you use chords in multiple ways outside of the regular way they are formed.

    We’ll be looking at another perspective to the inversion of chords which is known to music scholars as the chorale style.

    Right before we get into what we have today, let’s look at what the chorale style of voicing triads is, versus the regular keyboard style everyone is familiar with.

    The Chorale Style Voicing Of Triads

    The chorale style of voicing chords is rooted in the perception and consideration of notes as voices or voice parts.

    While a choir is singing, the collection of notes produced by the voice parts (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass) can produce triads and sometimes seventh chords.

    However, the notes are not arranged the same way the keyboard style chords are arranged. They are rather distributed in such a way that the notes fall into a suitable range for each of the voices.

    In the regular C major triad:

    ..the C and E notes:

    …may be high for the bass and tenor voices respectively.

    Therefore the notes (or voices) are distributed to the low and high ends of the keyboard. Check it out…

    The bass voice (C):

    …is the lowest, followed by the tenor voice (E):

    …then the alto voice (C):

    …followed by the soprano voice (G):

    Put together, here’s a chorale style voicing of the C major triad:

    …where the notes are distributed in such a way that it’s convenient for the singers to produce without strain versus the keyboard style where the notes are closely arranged in alphabetic sequence. There are several other ways we can arrange the voices, but we’ll cover them extensively in another post.

    Now that we’ve covered the basics of the chorale style, let’s get into inversion.

    What Is Inversion?

    A chord is a collection of three notes built from a given note known as the root note. The triad has three notes, which are the first, third, and fifth tones of a given scale that they are derived from.

    Take the C major triad:

    …for example, that is built off the notes C, E, and G – which are the first, third, and fifth tones of the C major scale:

    The notes of a triad can be rearranged in such a way that another note other than the root note is the lowest note (aka – “bass note”). When a triad is played such, it is said to be inverted.

    Further reading: Bass Note vs Root Note.

    There are two approaches to the inversion of chords – the keyboard style and the chorale style.

    We’ll be learning about the chorale style of inversion in this post. But before we get into that, let’s look at the keyboard style of inversion.

    Overview of the Keyboard Style Inversion

    This style of inversion features the octave transposition of the lowest or highest chord tone. The lowest chord tone is transposed an octave higher while the highest chord tone is transposed an octave lower.

    The C major triad:

    …can be inverted by an octave transposition of C:

    …which is the lowest note to a higher octave to produce its first inversion:

    Conversely, the highest note (G in this case):

    …can be played an octave lower to produce its second inversion:

    Attention: I want you to note that the first inversion has the third chord tone as its lowest note while the second inversion has the fifth chord tone as its lowest chord tone.

    Chorale Style Of Inversion

    As opposed to the keyboard style of inversion that is based on the octave transposition technique, the chorale style is bass note oriented.

    It is the bass note that determines whether a chord is inverted or not. Let’s look at the inversion of triads and seventh chords using the chorale style.

    Inversion of Triads

    A triad is a chord of three notes – the root, third, and fifth. When the root note is the bass note, this is called the root position triad.

    For example, when the C major triad is played in such a way that C is the lowest note:

    …the C major triad is said to be in root position.

    In the chorale style of inversion, the idea is to use any other chord tone (whether the third or the fifth) as the bass note.

    First Inversion

    Playing a triad in such a way that the third tone of the triad is the lowest note (aka – “bass note”) produces its first inversion.

    The third degree of the G minor triad:

    …is Bb:

    Therefore playing the G minor triad in such a way that Bb is the bass note would produce its first inversion:

    Even if the right hand chord is the root position:

    …or the second inversion:

    …of the G minor triad, so long as Bb is the bass note, the triad is said to be in its first inversion.

    Here are a few examples of first inversion triads…

    C major:

    Eb minor:

    A major:

    F minor:

    D major:

    Second Inversion

    When a triad is played in such a way that its fifth tone is the bass note, the triad is said to be in its second inversion.

    C:

    …is the fifth tone (or degree) of the F major triad:

    If the F major triad is played in such a way that C is the bass note, this would produce its second inversion:

    Irrespective of what the right hand chord is, whether a root position triad:

    …or the first inversion triad:

    …of the F major triad, so long as C is the bass note, the triad is said to be in its second inversion.

    Check out these second inversion triads…

    C major:

    F minor:

    A major:

    Eb minor:

    D major:

    Inversion of Seventh Chords

    Seventh chords are four-note chords. However, they are called sevenths because [when played in root position] they encompass seven degrees of the major [or minor] scale.

    In addition to the root, third, and fifth is the seventh chord tone. A seventh chord consists of its root, third, fifth, and seventh. Just like triads, seventh chords in root position have their root note as the bass note.

    For example, when the G dominant seventh chord is played in such a way that G is the lowest note:

    …the G dominant seventh chord is said to be in root position.

    Similar to what we did for triads, we can use other chord tones as bass notes to produce inversions. .

    First Inversion

    When the third tone of a seventh chord is the bass note, the chord is said to be in its first inversion.

    The third tone of the D dominant seventh chord:

    …is F#:

    Therefore, playing the D dominant seventh chord in such a way that F# is the bass note would produce its first inversion:

    Here are a few examples of first inversion seventh chords…

    G# minor seventh:

    E major seventh:

    B dominant seventh:

    C half-diminished seventh:

    G augmented major seventh:

    Second Inversion

    When the fifth tone of a seventh chord is the bass note, the chord is said to be in its second inversion.

    The fifth tone of the C major seventh chord:

    …is G:

    Therefore, playing the C major seventh chord in such a way that G is the bass note would produce its second inversion:

    Here are a few examples of second inversion seventh chords…

    A augmented major seventh:

    D major seventh:

    E dominant seventh:

    G# minor seventh:

    E half-diminished seventh:

    Third Inversion

    When the seventh tone of a seventh chord is the bass note, the chord is said to be in its third inversion.

    The seventh tone of the C dominant seventh chord:

    …is Bb:

    Therefore, playing the C dominant seventh chord in such a way that Bb is the bass note would produce its third inversion:

    Here are a few examples of third inversion seventh chords…

    Ab dominant seventh:

    F major seventh:

    B dominant seventh:

    F# half-diminished seventh:

    C augmented major seventh:

    Final Words

    The chorale style of inversion can help our bass lines move with much more subtlety. Check out this chord progression to “Lord I lift your name on high.”

    Lord I:

    …lift your name on:

    …high:

    …then a passing chord (G dominant seventh):

    …played in its third inversion, which takes us back to the “Lord I lift…” section.
    Did you see how the third tone was on the bass and yet we weren’t playing chord 3?

    Alright, here’s another classic example…

     

    Lord I:

    …lift your name on:

    …high:

    Did you see how the bass note moved to the sixth and seventh tones from the first tone without implying chords 6 and 7.

    This post is an introductory post to “figured bass,” which we’ll be studying in another post.

    Until then.

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    Chuku Onyemachi

    Head of Education at HearandPlay Music Group
    Onyemachi "Onye" Chuku is a Nigerian musicologist, pianist, and author. Inspired by his role model (Jermaine Griggs) who has become his mentor, what he started off as teaching musicians in his Aba-Nigeria neighborhood in April 2005 eventually morphed into an international career that has helped hundreds of thousands of musicians all around the world. Onye lives in Dubai and is currently the Head of Education at HearandPlay Music Group and the music consultant of the Gospel Music Training Center, all in California, USA.



    Tagged as: chorale style, chorale style inversions, figured bass


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