Music Composition DUMmIES

The IV chord often can be used for a sense of departure, while the V chord

gives a sense of anticipation, which itself is a kind of tension, and the I chord

brings us resolution. After you pick a key to write your composition in, you

can look at the circle of Fifths (and Fourths) and easily find the chords that

are in the family of the chosen key. You can start to develop musical ideas

around this family of chords.

Whereas I, IV, and V chords can go a long way (blues and most of rock and

roll are totally based on these three chords), sooner or later we are going to

need more colors in our crayon box to keep our listeners’ attention.

The other diatonic triads(chords with three notes in them) that are in a given

major key’s family are as follows, including which tones of the scale they

include:

C G D A E B

F

B

E

A

D

G / F

Figure 9-7:
The Circle of
Fifths (and
Fourths) can
be exploited
for your
harmonic
purposes.

Chapter 9: Harmonizing with Melodies 97