What these mean?:
4-3 9-8 suspension: (I know what a suspension is, but whats the deal with the 4-3, 9-8?)
Invertible counterpoint
Pedal point
Diatonic functional harmony: (gaian, i know what diatonic and harmony is... but 'functional'?)
Dominant preparation

Thanks

Look for "4 - 3" on ... http://www.cwu.edu/~music/theory/counter.html


http://www.musique.umontreal.ca/personnel/Belkin/bk.C/3.html
check the link at the top of the page..


A note, usually in the bass and on the tonic or the dominant, sustained through harmonic changes in the other parts. Also called organ point. [http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/p/p0144000.html]


I may be wrong but you can probably drop the "functional" part and it still means the same thing.


handy hint at http://fixedreference.org/en/20040424/wiki...a/Chord_(music) (search for "dominant preparation) but basically this is the act of using the right harmonic progression to approach the dominant chord by reiterating the dominant in the preceding chords.

Functional Harmony (which I learned from a conducting teacher in London) - or at least an example of it is:

In C major:

T = C chord (Tonic, = 1st degree of scale)
Tr = Am chord (Tonic Relative, = 6th degree of scale)
S........Subdominant
Sr
D.........Domininant
Dr

(fill in the blanks, if you know enough to know what I'm going on about)

T,S,D then are I, IV, V
Tr,Sr,Dr then are VI, II, III

THE WONDERFUL THING IS that with this way of thinking, you suddenly have just 3 functions of chords:
T - at home-type
S - in the middle-type
D - in tension-type

Notice how in harmonizing a tune, often a relative minor can be reasonably tried as an alternative.

So in harmonizing tunes, you now have chords "purified" down to just 3, rather than learning so many rules about the 6 different chords (or even 7 - chord VII is part of a V7 chord, in function, to quite some extent). Even when the rules need to be worked through for the 6 or 7 chords, seeing the pairs of related chords is invaluable!

Hope this gives you some idea of one version of Functional Harmony.

The numbers are the interval above the root (N.B. not the bass) of the chord, that the suspension makes, eg. the 4 is a fourth which then resolves to a third above the root in the resolution.

I did have one question about suspensions though: why is it a 9-8 suspension and not a 2-1 suspension, the use of the compound interval in this one seems inconsistent with the others although I suppose a first isn't a commonly used way to describe unison!

With all respect, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with that last comment. The interval numbers used in the suspension are counted up from the bass note, not the root of the chord. Growing out of the basso continuo of the Baroque era, music was notated based entirely from the bass line, it being the only part of the music set to paper. The only way the performer would know what to play would be from the intervals notated in relation to the bass line. Therefore, all intervals are counted from the bass note. For further explanation, please feel free to email me.
Regarding the seemingly interchangability (yes, that's a real word ) of 9-8 and 2-1, there really is no difference anymore. It's just that there is usually an octave between the bass note and the suspension. 2-1 would technically end on the bass note, and would be hard to notice. In baroque realization of the basso continuo, though, there was a difference- a ninth in the first example, and a second in the second.