[Smt-talk] Abbreviated Labels of Seventh Chords

[Paul Setziol]

Hello all.

About the below post and, especially where Dimitar asks "...and all Russian theorists use 2 instead of 4/2, but the massive tendency in the US is to write 4-2. Is this tradition based on ignoring the logic of derivation, or is there something special that stands behind this label? 

Speaking for my college only.  We use the designation 4/2 for students when they are writing by hand simply because of the vagaries of handwriting makes it possible if not likely that a student working quickly on an exam or assignment will write a 2 that looks very much like a 7 and vice versa. When they use notational software they sometimes follow the example of the 2 that I write in examples using notational software.  It may be that simple, somewhat similar to the practice of asking students to add some sort of additional mark like a line or wavy line over the lower case m to distinguish it from the upper case "m" that some of them write.

Best wishes.

Paul Setziol
Musicianship Coordinator and Department Chair
De Anza College 
Cupertino. California
USA

setziolpaul at deanza.edu
setziolpaul at earthlink.net





-----Original Message-----
>From: "Ninov, Dimitar N" <dn16 at txstate.edu>
>Sent: Feb 8, 2012 7:50 PM
>To: "smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org" <smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org>
>Subject: [Smt-talk] Abbreviated Labels of Seventh Chords
>
>Dear Colleagues,
>
>My students were asking me why I wrote V2 instead of V4/2. I guess I had to ask them why they wrote V4/2 instead of V2. This is not a big deal, of course, but I wanted to bring to your attention the fact that number 4 is irrelevant to the logic of derivation of the abbreviated labels of seventh chords. 
>
>The abbreviated labels are derived by two intervals: 1) the interval between the bass and the root on the one hand, and 2) the interval between the bass and the seventh on the other. Thus in root position the only number is 7, because the interval between the bass and the root is unison; in first inversion we have 6-5; in second inversion 4-3, and in third inversion the only number is 2, because the interval between the bass and the seventh is unison. 
>
>Why 4? It shows the interval between the bass and the third of the seventh chord, which does not have to be shown unless we work in minor and use only figured bass with no Roman numerals.
>
>When I flip through the pages of some European and older American books of harmony (as well as some relatively new) the above explanation is provided. Author such as Piston, Tischler, Schoenberg, Horvitt, Cook, and all Russian theorists use 2 instead of 4/2, but the massive tendency in the US is to write 4-2. Is this tradition based on ignoring the logic of derivation, or is there something special that stands behind this label? 
>
>I would appreciate any ideas in this regard.
>
>Best wishes,
>
>Dimitar
>
>Dr. Dimitar Ninov, Lecturer
>School of Music
>Texas State University
>601 University Drive
>San Marcos, Texas 78666
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