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Humanities in Action

Jahrme Risner

Section 2.5 Chords

Chords are created using a combination of the <chord> and <alteration> tags. The <chord> tag can have any combination of the following attributes: @root, @mode, @bps, @suspended, @parentheses, and @bass. For alterations to chords, we place each alteration in an <alteration> tag, which are contained within the <chord> tag. To accommodate different styles of chord notation, the <chord> attribute @parentheses (parentheses="yes|no") will toggle the parentheses surrounding the alterations. With regard to the “mode” or “characteristic” of the chord, whatever text is entered will be used verbatim except in the cases of augmented, major, minor, halfdiminished, and diminished. In these cases, the standard chord symbol representation will be used (\(\left.\text{}{+}\right.\), \(\left.\text{}{\Delta}\right.\), \(\left.\text{}{-}\right.\), \(\left.\text{}^ø{}\right.\), and \(\left.\text{}^{\circ}{}\right.\) respectively).
For example, <chord root="C" bps="4 3"/> will result in \(\left.\text{C}^{4}_{3}\right.\) while
<chord root="B doublesharp" mode="min major" bps="6 5"
       suspended="yes" parentheses="yes" bass="G">
    <alteration><sharp/>9</alteration>
    <alteration>add 11</alteration>
</chord>
will result in \(\left.\text{B}^𝄪{}\text{min}^{\Delta}{}^{6}_{5}\text{sus}\left(\begin{smallmatrix}\text{♯9}\\\text{add 11}\end{smallmatrix}\right)\middle/\text{G}\right.\).

Example 2.5.1. Chords.

Examples of chaords are
  • \(\left.\text{N.C.}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{C}\left(\text{bass}\right)\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{A}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{B}\text{ma}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{C}\text{maj}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{D}{\Delta}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{E}\text{mi}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{F}\text{min}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{G}{-}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{A}^♭{}\text{aug}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{B}^♭{}{+}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{C}^♭{}\text{dim}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{D}^♭{}^{\circ}{}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{E}^♭{}^{6}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{F}^♭{}^{6}_{9}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{G}^♭{}^{7}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{A}^♯{}\text{dom}^{7}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{B}^♯{}\text{maj}^{7}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{C}^♯{}{\Delta}^{7}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{D}^♯{}\text{m}^{7}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{E}^♯{}\text{min}^{7}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{F}^♯{}{-}^{7}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{G}^♯{}\text{aug}^{7}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{A}^𝄫{}{+}^{7}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{B}^𝄫{}\text{dim}^{7}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{C}^𝄫{}^{\circ}{}^{7}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{D}^𝄫{}^ø{}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{E}^𝄫{}^ø{}^{7}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{F}^𝄫{}{\Delta}^{7}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{G}^𝄫{}\text{min}^\text{maj}{}^{7}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{A}^𝄪{}\text{m}^\text{M}{}^{7}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{B}^𝄪{}{-}^{\Delta}{}^{7}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{C}^𝄪{}{\Delta}^{7}\left(\text{♯5}\right)\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{D}^𝄪{}{+}^{\Delta}{}^{7}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{E}^𝄪{}\text{min}^{7}\left(\text{dim 5}\right)\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{F}^𝄪{}\text{dom}^{7}\left(\text{dim 5}\right)\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{G}^𝄪{}\text{ma}^{7}\text{sus}\middle/\text{D}^{𝄪}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{A}^♮{}\left(\begin{smallmatrix}\text{add 9}\\\text{omit 3}\end{smallmatrix}\right)\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{B}^♮{}^{7}\left(\begin{smallmatrix}\text{♯11}\\\text{♭9}\end{smallmatrix}\right)\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{C}^♮{}^{7}\left(\begin{smallmatrix}\text{add 11}\\\text{omit 5}\end{smallmatrix}\right)\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{D}^♮{}{\Delta}^{7}\left(\text{♯5}\right)\middle/\text{E}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{E}^♮{}\text{m}^{7}\text{sus}\left.\text{add 3}\right.\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{F}^♮{}\middle/\text{B}^{𝄫}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{G}^♮{}{+}\left(\begin{smallmatrix}\text{add ♯9}\\\text{add ♭9}\end{smallmatrix}\right)\right.\)

Example 2.5.2. Chord Comparisons.

While there are different ways to notate chords, some are clearer than others.
  • \(\left.\text{F}\text{maj}\right.\) vs \(\left.\text{F}\text{M}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{C}\text{min}^{\Delta}{}^{7}\right.\) vs \(\left.\text{C}{-}^{\Delta}{}^{7}\right.\)
  • \(\left.\text{C}{\Delta}^{7}\left(\text{♯5}\right)\right.\) vs \(\left.\text{C}{+}^{\Delta}{}^{7}\right.\) vs \(\left.\text{C}\text{aug}^\text{maj}{}^{7}\right.\)
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