{"id":14186,"date":"2016-08-02T00:00:51","date_gmt":"2016-08-02T08:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hearandplay.com\/main\/?p=14186"},"modified":"2024-10-07T17:35:45","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T01:35:45","slug":"14186-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hearplaymain.wpenginepowered.com\/14186-2\/","title":{"rendered":"You Can Hardly Play Three Hymns Without The Chromatic Supertonic Chord"},"content":{"rendered":"

Believe it or not, you can hardly play three hymns without the chromatic supertonic chord.<\/p>\n

In this post, I’ll not only prove this point, but also elaborately explain what a chromatic supertonic chord is. Therefore, if you don’t know what the chromatic supertonic chord is, don’t give up yet because we are getting this study started with an explanation of what the phrase chromatic supertonic chord <\/em>means.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Definition Of The Chromatic Supertonic Chord (CSC)<\/h2>\n

To understand what a chromatic supertonic chord is, we need to breakdown the phrase chromatic supertonic chord<\/em> into three words, and give a detailed explanation of what the individual words that make up the phrase mean.<\/p>\n

Let’s start with the term chromatic…<\/em><\/p>\n

“Chromatic”<\/em><\/h3>\n

Although the term chromatic<\/em> literally means ‘colorful’, it is used to refer to any idea [be it a note, scale, interval, chord, or chord progression] that is foreign<\/strong> to a given key.<\/p>\n

When music is played in a particular key, let’s say the key of C major:
\n
\n…the notes of the C major scale are said to be diatonic, while every other note…<\/p>\n

C#\/Db:
\n
\nD#\/Eb:
\n
\nF#\/Gb:
\n
\nG#\/Ab:
\n
\nA#\/Bb:
\n
\n…[foreign to the key of C major] are said to be chromatic.<\/p>\n

In a nutshell, the term chromatic in this context refers to a chord that is foreign to a given key.<\/p>\n

“…Supertonic”<\/em><\/h3>\n

Musical scholars have a way of describing scale degrees using technical names. Here are the technical names of the eight degree in the major key…<\/p>\n

First – Tonic<\/p>\n

Second – Supertonic<\/strong><\/p>\n

Third – Mediant<\/p>\n

Fourth – Sub-dominant<\/p>\n

Fifth – Dominant<\/p>\n

Sixth – Sub-mediant<\/p>\n

Seventh – Sub-tonic<\/p>\n

Eight – Octave<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From the list of technical names we just made, it is clear that supertonic<\/strong> is the technical name of the second tone (aka – “second degree”) of the scale. The term supertonic in this lesson is used to describe chords that are formed on the second degree of the scale.<\/p>\n

“Chord”<\/em><\/h3>\n

According to Jermaine Griggs, “a chord is a collection of three or more related notes (whether agreeable or not) that maybe played or heard together or separately.”<\/em><\/p>\n

There are so many ways that chords can be classified…<\/p>\n