I'm doing Grade 8 theory in a couple of weeks and I'm a bit puzzled about the way that some questions are asked in the past papers.

For example: I'm working my way through past papers for 2005 at the moment and the question is to identify the chords. Question says "Indicate the position of each chord, whether it is major, minor, augmented or diminished .............." As far as I'm aware, if the chord is an Italian/French/German 6th, that's all I need to write down, I don't need to write down the position, and major/minor etc. Am I right? And if not what do I need to put? I have no difficulty in identifying the It/Fr/Ger 6th just how to express what it is. Any help gratefully received - it's a couple of weeks before the exam, therefore time to panic

I dont think you need to identify what type of 6th it is.
The chord will simply be Major, Minor, Augmented, or diminished, and either root , 1st inversion or second inversion.

eg CEG (from bottom up of course) is major root position, CEA is minor ist inversion, Gflat C Eflat is diminished second inversion

Im sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong

I think you do need to know if they are German/Italian/French, as I remember learning them once for this very purpose.

What Fsharpminor said is bang on, but make sure you include a position to - the number. If you have learned extended Roman then just writing the chord that way should answer all the required parts of the question.

I am sure a harmony expert will correct me if I am wrong, but from the distant memory of my theory lessons:

The various sixths are actually derived from IV in first inversion.

The Italian sixth comprises (from the base up) the 6th, 1st, and sharpened 4th notes of the scale (i.e. 6-1-4#)
The French sixth is an Italian sixth with the second degree of the scale added (6-1-2-4#).
The German sixth is an Italian sixth but with the third of the scale added (6-1-3-4#).

Isn't that all anyone needs to know?

I don't see how these fit into the scheme: major, minor, perfect, augmented, diminished, as the foundation note of the chord (the degree of the scale on which the triad is based) is itself sharpened. It is possible to identify all the intervals within the chord, but not obvious how to assign one of those 5 terms to the entire chord. Surely the exams would not set such an ambiguous question. It is not as if it has anything to do with understanding where the chords come from, recognizing them when you hear them, or knowing their function in composition?

(p.s. I think the German 6th is a wonderful chord)

<-- Tests out sound of various chords of the 6th

Is anyone else aware of the recent EU proposal to merge the Italian, French and German sixths into a single European sixth?

Sorry jmh, that wasn't very helpful

You're absolutely right, I did my grade 8 theory last term and this is exactly what you do, its either something like IIb dim, or similar, or Fr/Ger/It 6th. If you look at the answer published for the 2007 paper, just writing French 6th is sufficient.

Fsharpminor - yes that what you have to do for regular chords, but the 6ths chords are different.

Thank you Mad Tom and maya3 - you've confirmed what I thought. I've done the 2007 papers and I've got the model answers so with a little common sense on my part I could have looked it up for myself! It was just that the question seemed to expect that I specify inversions/maj/min etc for every chord that needed identifying. The augmented 6th chords are ones that I seem to find really easy. Thank you F#minor - you are of course absolutely right about inversions, but you can't apply it to the three augmented 6th chords. Nice joke Deborah

i think thats just to trick you

watch out for the 6ths, your almost guaranteed to get at least on on q4/5.

x

jm-hamilton

If it's of any use to you, I can remember my grade 8 theory tutor (an ex-ABRSM examiner) advising us that to describe an augmented sixth as 'Italian/French/German' tells the examiner all they need to know, so there's no need to include any further information in the answer. As long as you have correctly identified the chord in the first place of course...

And yes, we had a question in our grade 8 paper, asking the very same thing in our exam, so it is a common topic.

Good to hear someone finds these chords easy

Best of luck for the exam.

denmark

Thanks denmark77, nice to have it straight from the horse's mouth.

augmented 6ths are almost always in question 4/5 but in the S paper for 2007 they seem to use chromatic chords that aren't any special type of chord. I use the phrase I -For-Get to remember what notes form the 6th i.e italian with the interval of the augmented 6th plus the third with no 5th, french with the augmented 4th and no 5th, then the german 6th with the 3rd and the 5th. Also the italian and german 6ths act almost as secondary dominants if you respell them you can see why

e.g

Ab - C - Eb - F sharp can write enharmonically as Ab - C - Eb - Gb which is the dominant seventh of Db

That paper is evil! It took me hours to figure it out. I think one of them is a dominant 9th but i could be barking up completely the wrong tree.

absolutely correct! I found it so strange it wasn't an augmented 6th I had to check it a good few times . be cautious in the trio sonata for consecutive 5ths, particularly in the first part you have to fill in. I was supposed to be doing this one as a mock but that doesn't seem to be happening now! The S papers seem harder than the others. does anyone know if there are model answers for 2006?

Good luck all with the grade 8 exam!

Has anyone seen the 2005 grade 8 paper S? It actually has a 12 tone melody in the complete the given melody question.

I'm working my way through the 2005 papers, putting off doing the composition - bad thing to do as it's my worst thing and I really need the practice. Twelve tone is going to scare me.

I found with the melody there's very little creative thought that goes in- in fact i've found the less the better. I did the oboe melody on the 2007 A paper and i just wrote things that fitted with the harmony - sung it through in my head and thought it sounded terrible - my teacher gave me it back and said it was really good (i only lost a mark cause i forgot to put the key signature on the second to last line - oops!)

I'm not going to comment on the paper itself, but what Mad Tom has pointed out is correct, assuming you are in a minor key (b6). It is also a good thing to understand the functions of these chords (i.e. resolution to the dominant, relations to the tritone and their enharmonic translation), although I don't think you need to in order to complete your exam.

It honestly isnt that difficult, they are just names in relation to how they developed historically. Just think like this:

In C major, Italian 6th = Ab7(omit 5), German 6th = Ab7, Neapolitan 6th, Db/C#.

I should think they'll let you off just naming them for what they are, after all its a natural 'harmonic region' in a minor key (to the ear).