The Diatonic-Chromatic Platform of the
Major-Minor System This essay will compare a pure diatonic system with various chromatic systems and will trace the formation of tonality in the common practice period as chromatic expansion of modality. Tonality in the twentieth century is often expanded through modal interaction (mixture), chromatic mediant relationship, and fully chromatic chord operation. The author suggests a different path: the focus here will be placed on the potential of certain artificial modes to expand tonality. It is true
that the harmonic and melodic major and minor scales are obtained through
modal interaction of chords, either by borrowing from the opposite diatonic
mode (i.e. minor iv in a major mode) or by adding genuine chromatic chords
which do not exist in the pure diatonic system (i.e. an augmented triad).
However, these altered chords are derived from superimposed major and minor
thirds as parts of the scales, which suggests the arbitrary term ‘conditional
diatonic’. A higher level of chromaticism is obtained by the addition of
typical altered chords which contain diminished or (more rarely) augmented
thirds. It is possible to justify their existence within the so-called double
harmonic major and minor scales. Therefore, the main idea suggested in this
essay is that the basic platform of the major minor-system is created from the
intrinsic combination of natural major and minor and their harmonic and
melodic versions, while the double harmonic scales are regarded as a further
expansion of this platform.
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