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Unit 3: Music Fundamentals III: Triads and Seventh Chords

5 dot points across 5 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do Roman numerals label a chord's scale degree and quality, and how do we lay chords out in four voices?

Topic 3.5 Roman Numerals and SATB: label diatonic chords with Roman numerals showing root and quality, and arrange chord tones in the SATB four-voice texture.
A focused answer to AP Music Theory Topic 3.5, covering Roman numeral analysis (case shows quality, figures show inversion), the diatonic numerals of major and minor keys, the SATB four-voice layout and ranges, and how to spell a chord across four voices, with a worked analysis.
9 min answer →

A seventh chord has four notes, so what are its inversions and how do we figure each one?

Topic 3.4 Seventh Chord Inversions and Figures: identify the four positions of a seventh chord and label them with figured-bass symbols (7, 6/5, 4/3, 4/2).
A focused answer to AP Music Theory Topic 3.4, covering the four positions of a seventh chord (root position, first, second, third inversion), the figured-bass symbols (7, 6/5, 4/3, 4/2), how the figures count intervals above the bass, and identifying the chordal seventh, with a worked inversion.
9 min answer →

What do we get when we stack one more third on a triad, and how do we name the result?

Topic 3.3 Seventh Chords: build a seventh chord by adding a seventh above the root, and identify its quality (major, dominant, minor, half-diminished, fully diminished).
A focused answer to AP Music Theory Topic 3.3, covering the seventh chord as a triad plus a seventh above the root, the five common qualities (major, dominant or major-minor, minor, half-diminished, fully diminished), how the triad and the seventh combine, and the diatonic sevenths of a key, with a worked build.
9 min answer →

When a chord tone other than the root is in the bass, how do we name the inversion and figure it?

Topic 3.2 Triad Inversions and Figures: identify root position, first inversion and second inversion triads, and label them with figured-bass symbols (no figure, 6, and 6/4).
A focused answer to AP Music Theory Topic 3.2, covering triad inversions (root position, first inversion, second inversion) named by the chord tone in the bass, the figured-bass symbols (no figure, 6, 6/4) and how figures measure intervals above the bass, with a worked inversion.
9 min answer →

How do we stack thirds to build a triad, and what gives each triad its quality?

Topic 3.1 Triads: build a triad as three pitches stacked in thirds (root, third, fifth), and identify its quality as major, minor, diminished or augmented.
A focused answer to AP Music Theory Topic 3.1, covering the triad as stacked thirds (root, third, fifth), the four triad qualities (major, minor, diminished, augmented), how the third and fifth above the root define each quality, and the diatonic triads of a key, with a worked build.
9 min answer →