music theory for musicians and normal people by toby w.

rush

Triads in Inversion
ladies and gentlemen, it’s
and he’s brought a
movement from his 1767
franz joseph haydn! sonata in g major.

thank you for having me.

in this piece I use quite a
few triads.
ooh! let’s
haydn
see ‘em!

# 3 j œ œ œ œ œœg. œœit’sœœ aœjc œmajor œœ œœœœœœ œ. œ œ ..

& 8 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œc, œeœ and œ
here’s one: it has the notes

œ .
œtriad! very. nice.
œ œ . œ.
f .
? # 38 ‰ œ œ. œ œ. œ . œ see how œ . œ
œ œ. œ. œ . œ
œ spread
œ are œ ‰ œand notœ just œ œ œ ..
œ œ œ J œout, œ
thank you. the notes

J J stacked in thirds? it’sJ still

J
a triad, though.

# . œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ́ œ œ œ œ œ́ œ œ j
& .J œ œ œ œ œ œ́ œ œ œ œ œ œ́ œ œœœ œ.
œ
p
j F f
this one is g, b, and d...
f . somehow. j œ .
œ œ. œ the third
œ. œ. ofœ. the
a g major triad! but it sounds

? # .. ‰ œ
different, œ œ œ œ œ œ œ because œ. œ
œ œ ‰
that’s
œ œ œ œ œ we sayœ. the
chord is œ chord
in the œ is in first
bass... œ inversion.
when that happens,
J J J J œ

# œ œ œ œ œ œ . œœœœœœ œœœ
œ
.
œ œ œ œ œ. œ.
U
.. n b b
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ œœ J œ
ƒ
first inversion? what is it

. . œchord .
œ œ. œ. œ. . œ . n b
called when the root is in the

?# œ œ
œ we looked at? œ œ root œ. œ
œposition. J
the first
œ ‰ œ
bass, like
œ œ . b
that’s called

œ œ œ J J œ œ J œ
J

Mœ Mœ #Mœ Mœ this one with

œ d, f, and œ a n œœ œ œ
b triad... œin œ #œ œ ‰
so

& b .. ‰ J ‰ ‰ J ‰ ‰ J ‰ ‰ J second
‰ ‰ # œ ‰ ‰ J ‰ ‰ J
..
is a d minor
J
inversion!

p F p
nœ œ œ œ
? b b .. ‰ ‰ œ ? ‰ œ because
‰ œ œ ‰ œ œexactly! œ œ œ œ
œthe ..
& ‰ œ œ is in the‰ bass. œ œ
œ œ
fifth

so the thing that makes a

triad root position, first inversion
that’s right!
or second inversion is simply
and each one
which note is in the bass?
has its own
character.
it’s hard to believe that the
sound of the chord can change so
much just because of the
bass note. I know, right?
it’s awesome. haydn

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