Triad (music)
In music, a triad is a set of three notes (or "pitch classes") that can be stacked vertically in thirds. The term "harmonic triad" was coined by Johannes Lippius in his "Synopsis musicae novae" (1612). Triads are the most common chords in Western music. When stacked in thirds, notes produce triads. The triad's members, from lowest-pitched tone to highest, are called: Some 20th-century theorists, notably Howard Hanson and Carlton Gamer, expand the term to refer to any combination of three different pitches, regardless of the intervals. The word used by other theorists for this more  general concept is "trichord". Others use the term to refer to combinations apparently stacked by other intervals, as in "quartal triad". In the late Renaissance music era, and especially during the Baroque music era (1600–1750), Western art music shifted from a more "horizontal" contrapuntal approach (in which multiple, independent melody lines were interwoven) toward progressions, which are sequences of triads. The progression approach, which was the foundation of the Baroque-era basso continuo accompaniment, required a more "vertical" approach, thus relying more heavily on the triad as the basic building block of functional harmony. The root of a triad, together  with the degree of the scale to which it corresponds, primarily determine its function. Secondarily, a triad's function is determined by its quality: major, minor, diminished or augmented. Major and minor triads are the most commonly used triad qualities in Western classical, popular and traditional music. In standard tonal music, only major and minor triads can be used as a tonic in a song or some other piece of music. That is, a song or other vocal or instrumental piece can be in the key of C major or A minor, but a song or some other piece can not be in the key of B diminished or F augmented (although songs or other pieces might include these triads within the triad progression, typically in a temporary, passing role). Three of these four kinds of triads are found in the major (or diatonic) scale. In popular music and 18th-century classical music, major and minor triads are considered consonant and stable, and diminished and augmented triads are considered dissonant and unstable. Construction. Triads (or any other tertian chords) are built by superimposing "every other" note of a diatonic scale (e.g., standard major or minor scale). For example, a C  major triad uses the notes C–E–G. This spells a triad by "skipping over" D and F. While the interval from each note to the one above it is a third, the quality of those thirds varies depending on the quality of the triad: The above definitions spell out the interval of each note above the root. Since triads are constructed of stacked thirds, they can be alternatively defined as follows: Triads appear in close or open positions. "When the three upper voices are as close together as possible, the spacing is described as close position or close harmony . [...] The other arrangements [...] are called open position or open harmony." Function. Each triad found in a diatonic (single-scale-based) key corresponds to a particular diatonic function. Functional harmony tends to rely heavily on the primary triads: triads built on the tonic, subdominant (typically the ii or IV triad), and dominant (typically the V triad) degrees. The roots of these triads are the first, fourth, and fifth degrees (respectively) of the diatonic scale, otherwise symbolized I, IV, and V. Primary triads "express function clearly and unambiguously." The other triads in diatonic keys include the supertonic, mediant, submediant, and subtonic, whose  roots are the second, third, sixth, and seventh degrees (respectively) of the diatonic scale, otherwise symbolized ii, iii, vi, and vii. They function as auxiliary or supportive triads to the primary triads.