In music theory, an inversion is a rearrangement of the top-to-bottom elements in an interval, a chord, a melody, or a group of contrapuntal lines of music. In each of these cases, "inversion" has a distinct but related meaning. The concept of inversion also plays an important role in musical set theory.
Intervals
An interval is inverted by raising or lowering either of the notes by one or more octaves so that the higher note becomes the lower note and vice versa. For example, the inversion of an interval consisting of a C with an E above it (the third measure below) is an E with a C above it – to work this out, the C may be moved up, the E may be lowered, or both may be moved.
The tables to the right show the changes in interval quality and interval number under inversion. Thus, perfect intervals remain perfect, major intervals become minor and vice versa, and augmented intervals become diminished and vice versa. (Doubly diminished intervals become doubly augmented intervals, and vice versa.). Traditional interval numbers add up to nine: seconds become sevenths and vice versa, thirds become sixths and vice versa, and so on. Thus, a perfect fourth becomes a perfect fifth, an augmented fourth becomes a diminished fifth, and a simple interval (that is, one that is narrower than an octave) and its inversion, when added together, equal an octave. See also complement (music).
Chords A chord's inversion describes the relationship of its lowest notes to the other notes in the chord. For instance, a C major triad contains the tones C, E and G; its inversion is determined by which of these tones is the lowest note (or bass note) in the chord. The term inversion often categorically refers to the different possibilities, though it may also be restricted to only those chords where the lowest note is not also the root of the chord. Texts that follow this restriction may use the term position instead, to refer to all of the possibilities as a category.
Root position and inverted chords
A chord is in root position if its root is the lowest note. This is sometimes known as the parent chord of its inversions. For example, the root of a C-major triad is C, so a C-major triad will be in root position if C is the lowest note and its third and fifth (E and G, respectively) are above it – or, on occasion, do not sound at all. The following C-major triads are both in root position, since the lowest note is the root. The rearrangement of the notes above the bass into different octaves (here, the note E) and the doubling of notes (here, G), is known as voicing – the first voicing is close voicing, while the second is open.
In an inverted chord, the root is not the lowest note. The inversions are numbered in the order their lowest notes appear in a close root-position chord (from bottom to top).
As shown above, a C-major triad (or any chord with three notes) has two inversions:
In the first inversion, the lowest note is E – the third of the triad – with the fifth and the root stacked above it (the root now shifted an octave higher), forming the intervals of a minor third and a minor sixth above the inverted bass of E, respectively. In the second inversion, the lowest note is G – the fifth of the triad – with the root and the third above it (both again shifted an octave higher), forming a fourth and a sixth above the (inverted) bass of G, respectively. Chords with four notes (such as seventh chords) work in a similar way, except that they have three inversions, instead of just two. The three inversions of a G dominant seventh chord are:
Notating root position and inversions
Figured bass
Figured bass is a notation in which chord inversions are indicated by Arabic numerals (the figures) either above or below the bass notes, indicating a harmonic progression. Each numeral expresses the interval that results from the voices above it (usually assuming octave equivalence). For example, in root-position triad C–E–G, the intervals above bass note C are a third and a fifth, giving the figures 53. If this triad were in first inversion (e.g., E–G–C), the figure 63 would apply, due to the intervals of a third and a sixth appearing above the bass note E. Certain conventional abbreviations exist in the use of figured bass. For instance, root-position triads appear without symbols (the 53 is understood), and first-inversion triads are customarily abbreviated as just 6, rather than 63. The table to the right displays these conventions. Figured-bass numerals express distinct intervals in a chord only as they relate to the bass note. They make no reference to the key of the progression (unlike Roman-numeral harmonic analysis), they do not express intervals between pairs of upper voices themselves – for example, in a C–E–G triad, the figured bass does not signify the interval relationship between E–G, and they do not express notes in upper voices that double, or are unison with, the bass note. However, the figures are often used on their own (without the bass) in music theory simply to specify a chord's inversion. This is the basis for the terms given above such as "64 chord" for a second inversion triad. Similarly, in harmonic analysis the term I6 refers to a tonic triad in first inversion.
Popular-music notation A notation for chord inversion often used in popular music is to write the name of a chord followed by a forward slash and then the name of the bass note. This is called a slash chord. For example, a C-major chord in first inversion (i.e., with E in the bass) would be notated as "C/E". This notation works even when a note not present in a triad is the bass; for example, F/G is a way of notating a particular approach to voicing an Fadd9 chord (G–F–A–C). This is quite different from analytical notations of function; e.g., the notation "IV/V" represents the subdominant of the dominant.
Lower-case letters Lower-case letters may be placed after a chord symbol to indicate root position or inversion. Hence, in the key of C major, a C-major chord in first inversion may be notated as Ib, indicating chord I, first inversion. (Less commonly, the root of the chord is named, followed by a lower-case letter: Cb). If no letter is added, the chord is assumed to be in root position, as though a had been inserted.
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