[Smt-talk] Uncommon six-fours

[Ninov, Dimitar N]

Dear Colleagues,

In the case of Julia, I do not think that the six-fours play any greater role in the guitar accompaniment than merely serving as a substitute for the root position of the original triads. We know that many a guitarist will, for instance, play the C chord by pressing all the six strings thus sounding a "G" below the root note C. This is common practice in a strumming guitar's accompaniment, unless the task is to really outline a nice bass that suggests otherwise. In the case of Julia the formal analysis might include a passing 6/4 and then a leaping one (not necessarily cadential) that would be "forbidden" in conventional harmony.

As for the cadential six-four per se, I am among those who definitely reject the notion that it is a mere V with two non-chord tones, but that is another topic.

Dimitar

Dr. Dimitar Ninov, Lecturer
School of Music
Texas State University
601 University Drive
San Marcos, Texas 78666
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