Fruit punch. It tastes good, doesn’t it? How about when you get some mango or passion fruit juice? Now those taste really good don’t they?! Now imagine you’re just expecting fruit punch and you get mango and passion fruit in the mix. You’re not expecting those tastes to hit your palate, but you want to kiss whoever made the juice. Well, maybe not.
Modal mixture is kind of the same. Composers and arrangers sprinkle in elements that are a bit familiar but unexpected and keep listeners interested and intrigued.
In this technique, chords that use the 3, 6, and 7, are exchanged for chords in the parallel minor key where those degrees are flattened.
These simple trades can catch listeners by surprise and those parts stand out from the nearby harmonies. This is often done to draw attention to specific lyrics or phrases.
Modal scale degrees are referred to as numbers and the chords created using them are listed as Roman numerals. Spell mixture chords as if they appeared in the parallel minor key.
Borrowed Chords
Mixture chords are sometimes called borrowed chords. The most common mixture chords in major keys other than the minor tonic (i) are ♭VI, ii°6, ii𝆩65, iv, and vii°7. These chords can be tonicized or they can be the target of tonicization.
Minor keys offer fewer opportunities for these colorful and surprising changes of mood. Both versions of scale degrees 6 and 7 are routinely employed in harmonic progressions and melodic lines in v and 7°, are commonplace. v is used for a model effect. Occasionally composers may go from minor to major – VI to vi, or i to I [also known as the Picardy third when placed at an authentic cadence].
Mixture can color longer spans of music when a piece modulates to the key of a mixture chord. Composers sometimes introduce elements of a mixture within the primary key to prepare for such modulation.
This video from Fretjam.com covers the basics of borrowed chords and gives guidelines on how to recognize them and how to handle them once you realize what they are.
Signal Music Studio’s Jake Lizzio goes over borrowed chords and shows how to borrow from minor scales and other modes.
Rick Beato gives an in-depth explanation about borrowed chords and works everything out on the blackboard for those who need the extra reinforcement.
Labeling Mixture Chords
- Adjust the quality of the Roman numeral
- If necessary, add the sign to the lowercase Roman numeral for a diminished triad or 7th cord
- If the root has been lowered add a flat sign before the Roman numeral
Mixture chords have the same harmonic function and follow the same common practice voice leading guidelines as the diatonic chords replace. Most typical in major keys are iv6 to vi°, and ii𝆩65 in the predominant area, and i, ♭VI, iv & vii°7, and their inversions to expand the tonic area.
Lament Bass
Mixture chords are employed in minor chromatic bass lines like the lament bass.
Things to avoid when part-writing using mixture chords.
Double the root in a root position chordDouble any stable card member in a first inversion chord (often the soprano or bass)Double the bass in a second inversion chordDouble the third usually in the bass of a diminished chord
Pay careful attention not to alter tones that may create melodic augmented seconds in any voice. Where possible, keep the chromatic semitones half-step motion between two notes and the same letter in a single voice to avoid cross relations, especially between the outer voices.
A A B A UP DOWN LEFT RIGHT
These two videos by Jake Lizzio and Rick Beato give more examples of using modal mixture to reach your listener’s emotional side.
Modal Mixtures in Practice
Since modal mixture is often used to highlight emotion and give meaning to the text, I decided to work on a hymn this week. Many hymns are very expressive, but Amazing Grace is one of those hymns that is always used at funerals.
Amazing Grace Lyrics
1 Amazing grace (how sweet the sound)
that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see.
2 ‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
and grace my fears relieved;
how precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed!
3 Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come:
’tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.
4 The Lord has promised good to me,
his word my hope secures;
he will my shield and portion be
as long as life endures.
5 Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
and mortal life shall cease:
I shall possess, within the veil,
a life of joy and peace.
6 The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
the sun forbear to shine;
but God, who called me here below,
will be forever mine.
Lyrics from Hymnary.org Ancient & Modern, 2013
Amazing_GraceI chose to highlight the words “wretch” and “now” and I borrowed chords from the parallel Minor scale to accent the sadness at those points.
Revisions
Amazing_Grace87Amazing_Grace891