# Just used a Neapolitan 6th chord in a score...



## JohnG (Nov 11, 2017)

...just sayin


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## Rodney Money (Nov 11, 2017)

Ah, music theory 1. Takes me back.


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## FGBR (Nov 11, 2017)




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## InLight-Tone (Nov 11, 2017)

You're out of control man!


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## N.Caffrey (Nov 11, 2017)

JohnG said:


> ...just sayin


love that chord!


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## SimonCharlesHanna (Nov 11, 2017)




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## JohnG (Nov 11, 2017)

changed tempo too. _And_ used an accelerando.

Maybe we need a "bragging about far-out esoteric technique" section?


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## Paul T McGraw (Nov 11, 2017)

JohnG said:


> changed tempo too. _And_ used an accelerando.
> 
> Maybe we need a "bragging about far-out esoteric technique" section?



Well aren't you going to post the track? I love using N6 G6 I6 but I'm just writing concert music as a hobby. Would love to hear how you used it.


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## Johnny42 (Nov 11, 2017)

JohnG said:


> ...just sayin


 Don't forget the French.


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## JohnG (Nov 11, 2017)

Paul T McGraw said:


> Well aren't you going to post the track?



maybe when we're done recording and all that.

@Johnny42 I should try to work that in too. Probably like Italian and German better, but French is good too.


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## jononotbono (Nov 11, 2017)

JohnG said:


> Maybe we need a "bragging about far-out esoteric technique" section?



Hey, that's not fair. I'm not done memorising the contents of Albion IV yet.


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## HiEnergy (Nov 11, 2017)

JohnG said:


> Maybe we need a "bragging about far-out esoteric technique" section?



Last year I submitted a tune in an octatonic scale to a contest. Does that count?
(Unfortunately I didn't win the contest...)


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## patrick76 (Nov 11, 2017)

JohnG said:


> ...just sayin


Pretty sure you're not allowed to do that. ...and frankly, I don't see how this has anything to do with Justice League. You are on a slippery slope my friend.


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## gregh (Nov 11, 2017)

once you start using the neapolitan, who knows what will follow?


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## Saxer (Nov 11, 2017)

Is it tolerated that I used it in jazz tunes? Or do I have to apologize here too?


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## bryla (Nov 11, 2017)

jononotbono said:


> Hey, that's not fair. I'm not done memorising the contents of Albion IV yet.


Fourth inversion nea-Albion chord?


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## hawpri (Nov 11, 2017)

gregh said:


> once you start using the neapolitan, who knows what will follow?


Maybe vii°7/V?


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## heisenberg (Nov 11, 2017)

Johnny42 said:


> Don't forget the French.



Just don't mention the war.


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## markleake (Nov 11, 2017)

Is a C Major a Vanilla chord?


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## heisenberg (Nov 11, 2017)

To be serious just for one post... Chopin is not that esoteric. This chordal progression in the video below is part of the musical DNA of most people who listen to classical/romantic music.



as you were.


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## Johnny42 (Nov 11, 2017)

Saxer said:


> Is it tolerated that I used it in jazz tunes? Or do I have to apologize here too?


No apologies necessary if you're subbing.


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## NoamL (Nov 11, 2017)

heisenberg said:


> To be serious just for one post... Chopin is not that esoteric. This chordal progression in the video below is part of the musical DNA of most people who listen to classical/romantic music.
> 
> 
> 
> as you were.




The joke of this thread is that N6 is risqué not because it’s advanced theory but because you get yelled at in 2017 for using functional chords in film music. :(


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## heisenberg (Nov 11, 2017)

Reading back over the thread I see the joke now.


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## CT (Nov 11, 2017)

Yawn. Someone tell me when it becomes acceptable to get polytonal with alto flutes and bass clarinets again.


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## JJP (Nov 11, 2017)

Using a N6 chord is nothing. Recognizing that it is a N6 and then bragging about it online. That's boss. Mad geek props, man.


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## NoamL (Nov 11, 2017)

miket said:


> Yawn. Someone tell me when it becomes acceptable to get polytonal with alto flutes and bass clarinets again.



I was reading a score this evening and did a double take when the orchestrator indicated all 3 flutes switch to alto and then they solo in unison. Pretty rare and cool sound.


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## Rob (Nov 12, 2017)

I have a student that has so well understood the n6 that anytime he hears one while playing a piece he jells "sesta napoletana!"


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## mc_deli (Nov 12, 2017)

This is a very difficult situation for all concerned. I just want to see this resolved.


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## Living Fossil (Nov 12, 2017)

As long as you're in G-major, it's no problem.
What happens in G-major, stays in G-major.


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## Rv5 (Nov 12, 2017)

I used a 1st inversion once. Then pretty much retired. Quit while ahead right?


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## bryla (Nov 12, 2017)

Rv5 said:


> I used a 1st inversion once. Then pretty much retired. Quit while ahead right?


Once you try the 2nd inversion you're hooked!


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## mikeh-375 (Nov 13, 2017)

John,
I hope you resolved it lock stock and barrel a minor third up or down in spiccato mode, otherwise you'll make nothing from it.


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## JohnG (Nov 13, 2017)

mikeh-375 said:


> I hope you resolved it lock stock and barrel a minor third up or down in spiccato mode, otherwise you'll make nothing from it.



The Force is strong with this one.


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## ctsai89 (Nov 13, 2017)

JohnG said:


> ...just sayin



where the audio clip!. 


just kidding... I know you're not allowed to show them  

I love them all kinds of those 6th chords. Scriabin used them all the time before he developed his own mystic musical language.


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## mikeh-375 (Nov 13, 2017)

Ctsai, I didn't know you liked Scriabin . I wonder what colours he saw when he heard a neopolitan 6th, do you think he had a form of nationalistic synaesthesia?


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## ctsai89 (Nov 13, 2017)

mikeh-375 said:


> Ctsai, I didn't know you liked Scriabin . I wonder what colours he saw when he heard a neopolitan 6th, do you think he had a form of nationalistic synaesthesia?



Well some people argue that he actually wasn't born with synaestehsia but was rather influenced by it. I wouldn't know but I know that most of his music makes perfect sense to my ears and are rapturous to me.


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## Babe (Nov 18, 2017)

Anyone know why is called a neopolitan chord? I remember my theory teacher saying he didn't know.


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## Living Fossil (Nov 19, 2017)

Babe said:


> Anyone know why is called a neopolitan chord? I remember my theory teacher saying he didn't know.



This chord was often used in the neapolitan school; specially in opera music. It was a typical symbol for sorrow, pain.
Allhough it was already often used in the late 17th century, the name got established in the 19th century.

Keep in mind that this chord was originally not unerstood as a major chord in the first inversion, but rather as a minor chord where the fifth has been replaced by a little sixth (which typically proceeds into the leading tone of the [usuallly] following dominant and then to Tonika. (in c-minor this would be db-h-c).
Therefore it was perceived as a dissonant chord; not as a consonant major chord. 
And while in the 4 voice setting of a major chord usually the root not is doubled, in this case it was the bass note (the F and not the Db)
Later, this understanding vanished/changed in part; and you can find the chord also in a normal position (would be a Db major in c-minor), often used to modulate.


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