Question about chord transition (C - A) with intermediate chord G/B

[alisondetroit]

Hello everyone!

I am studying piano with my teacher and a question arose about a chord transition he used: from C Major (C) to A Major (A), passing through a G Major with B in the bass (G/B).

My questions are the following:

1) Why is the final chord A Major (A) and not A Minor (Am)? Considering that we are starting from the harmonic field of C Major, the relative minor would be A Minor.

2) What is the function of this inversion of G Major (G/B) in this transition? I understand that the B in the bass creates an interesting melodic line between C and A, but what is the specific harmonic purpose?

3) By using this transition with G/B, are we momentarily entering another harmonic field that justifies A Major? If so, what would be the logic behind this?

4) For other transitions, what is the general logic for applying intermediate chords (such as G/B)? Is there a resource or website that explains the formation and use of these transition chords well, especially how to get from one point to another?

5) In general, how do you form a transition between two chords? What are the most common principles or approaches to creating a smooth and interesting harmonic connection between them?

I would greatly appreciate any help or references you can give me! This is a concept I'm finding a little difficult to grasp.

Thank you! <3

[essence]

Is this kind of dramatic transformation something which Schubert would have done?

https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.18.24.3/mto.18.24.3.black.html

[vandoren]

1)  What is the context?  Was your teacher playing a classical piece?  If so, what piece?  Were they playing a song from a lead sheet?  If so, what song?  Perhaps they were improvising on the twelve bar blues?  If so, in which measure of the blues did they elect to make use of this progression?

Were any of the chords extended, e.g., did they have sevenths, or were they just triads?

2)  using the inversion of the g chord to make a stepwise baseline makes sense. What did they play after the A major?  Was it a landing place for the harmony that functioned like a new tonic after an abrupt modulation?  Or was it leading to a next chord like d minor7?


FWIW:  Here is a context common in jazz where a G chord (G7) would resolve to an A chord. Recall the plagal cadence works like

IV resolves to I

Example:  D resolves to A    Where A is the tonic.

This can be extended to

D  Dm  A

There is a nice voice leading line F# (third of D) to F (third of Dm) to E (fifth of A).

Some extensions that make it sound nice are

Dmaj7 Dm6 Amaj7

A variant of this has G7 replace the Dm6 chord (these chords are not so different other than the bass note).

It looks like

Dmaj7 G7 A

If you explore it you will see that the G7 resolves nicely to the A. E.g., F goes to E and D goes to C#. 

This might be one way to interpret the G chord as a transition chord modulating to A in your example.

[quantum]

More context is needed in order to give an explanation.

1)  What is the goal of the chord progression?  If we were to take the scenario that the goal was reaching A major, making the assertion that the chord should be A minor due to the convenience factor of the relative minor relationship would completely defeat the purpose of achieving the goal. 

2) Without knowing more context, G/B can be thought of as a transition chord. 

The most direct path between two chords, is to move directly to the destination.  Say you wanted to go from C to G, you can do that by just doing C, G.  It can be abrupt, but it works and still fits within diatonic harmony. 

You can smooth the transition by using three chords: C, F, G. 

Or if you were doing a tonicization / modulation to G you could use a secondary dominant:
C, D, G; or C, D/F#, G.

If you wanted to stretch the transition further, you could do:
C, G/D, C/E, G7/F, G.
I, V43, I6, V65, V.


3) More context needed. 

4) The danger of generalizing logic in these harmonic analyses is that one may default to using the generalization rather than applying logical reasoning to each problem one encounters.  Music is not created based on following generalized rules.  Rules are created by observing recurring patterns in music, in order that other people can recreate these same patterns.


5) One could build an entire university course on this topic. 

To begin, take your two endpoints.   These are your start and end goals.  This is your skeleton structure.  Build in the middle to create your transition. 

Example:
Start: C major
End: D major

C, D. 
C, A, D.
C, A/C#, D.
C, G/B, A, D.

Or if you want some Baroque:

Code: [Select]

Chord: C, A,  D,          Em,    A, D.
Bass:  C, C#, D, D, F#, D, G, E, A, D.