Talk:Music Theory/Fundamentals of Common Practice Music/Pitch

Tertian Harmony
I never heard of tertian harmony until reading this title. Is tertian harmony important enough to teach in such an early part of the book? Hoogli 23:25, 3 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Tertian harmony is the harmonic practice of all Western music (except atonal music). It means "3rds" harmony. Harmonic structures derived from stacked thirds. Triads. And seventh chords, ninth chords, 11th chords, on and on. It's the formal name for all harmony built of thirds. And yes, it's important to know this. In later periods of practice, quartal (built of 4ths)and quintal (built of 5ths) chords began to appear.