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dominant chord

Keely
About November 1884 Keely was conducting new researches in etheric vacuums. He says: "Working in a new lead I propose to show my introductory evolutions in proof of the negatization of an etheric substance to produce vacuums. Professor Rogers saw the operation inducing these etheric vacuums and pronounced the result wonderful." At that time he evolved vacuums of from one pound to fourteen pounds per square inch, and he stated further: "As soon as I combine all the positive and negative forces of etheric vibration in the triple vibratory sphere engine (his disintegrator) my machine will be perfect." During the course of his researches he demonstrated "etheric wave motion, concentration under vibratory concussion and negative vacuous tenuity." During the last part of his experiments along this line he succeeded in producing vacuums of from 30 inches to 57 inches of mercury in the ordinary barometer tubes used in measuring these vacuums, which would be utterly impossible by any mechanical means except genuine. Experimentally, these vacuums he produced are the strongest evidence that Keely actually discovered and which no one would believe because of the stock company fraud which was planned and put through by the stock speculators without his knowledge or consent. The very best vacuum that science, of Keely's day or this, can produce, is 17.99+ inches of mercury, in view of which his maximum vacuum of 57 inches can, or should be, appreciated as quite as marvelous an achievement alone, as the discovering of America or the invention of the cinematograph.

Keely states that through neutral focalization there are three different degrees of vacuum evolution, corresponding to the three fundamental forms of matter; 1) Molecular and intermolecular ruled by the enharmonic chord; 2) Atomic and interatomic ruled by the harmonic chord; and 3) Etheric and interetheric ruled by the dominant chord. [Snell Manuscript]

Ramsay
"When Nature, who weighs the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance, and number and names the stars, takes hold of this vibration-material, she subjects it to the most rigorous measurement in marshalling that series of notes which constitute The Musical System. She is in no hurry in giving us all her gifts in this matter. She first of all gives us the interval of an Octave at one stroke, and in generating the seven notes which compose the three chords of the Diatonic Scale she carries the process up through six octaves..." [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 19]

In the laws of quantities and motions the three primary ratios, 1:2, 1:3, 1:5, with the three different units, F1, C3, and G9, the roots of the chords of the subdominant, tonic, and dominant, produce the three chords of the musical system major, the one not interfering with the other; and by an inverse process are produced, from B720, E240, and A80, its generating notes, the three chords of the musical system minor; the one chord not interfering with the other. In a similar way the chromatic chords can be produced from three different units, without the one interfering with the other; and, like the subdominant, tonic, and dominant chords of the diatonic scale, they are fifths apart. So we may call them the subdominant, tonic, and dominant chromatic chords. Each of the three chromatic chords has also kinship with the major and minor modes, from the way in which the diatonic minor triad is constituted a chromatic chord by its supplement coming in the one side from the minor, and on the other side from the major system. [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 53]

It is the function of the chromatic chord, in the course of its systematic development, to bring two notes, the one above and the other below, in semitonic progression to each of the three notes of the tonic chord; and likewise, without interfering with the imperial character of the tonic chord, it brings two notes in semitonic progression to each note of the other two chords; so that, although at first the subdominant and dominant chords are only like satellites to the tonic chord, they, with their chromatic chords, are now raised to the dignity of planets as it were, having the chromatic chords as their satellites. [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 57]

A second cause of difference in degree of contrast between two notes and other two notes in which the ratios are the same lies in this - whether the two notes belong to one chord or to different chords. Two notes in the subdominant chord have a different contrast from two in the dominant chord which have the same ratio. [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 61]

The peculiar effects are exhibited when the chord-scale is next set forth. We have seen that there are six chords evolved in the genesis upward and downward, 3 in the major form and 3 in the minor. In the fifths of the minor the semitone is always in the lower third, occurring between the second and third in the subdominant and tonic, and between the first and second in the dominant chord; whereas in the major it is always in the upper third, between the fourth and fifth in the subdominant, and between the third and fourth in the tonic and dominant chords. While the thirds which the fifths contain are thus so varied, the fifths themselves have always one magnitude, whether major or minor. [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 68]

The varied effect of position in chords. When a chord stands as C E G C, having its root also at the top, it has its softest, dullest, most united effect; it is undramatic, with little contrast. When it stands as E G C E, having its third at the top and bottom, it has a more ticklish, interesting, far-away effect. In reveries composers often finish thus, as if it had vanished - an unsettled effect. When it stands as G C E G, with its top at top and bottom, it has its most dominant character - loud, swelling. In the position C E G C it stands mixingly with the subdominant C E f G a C, and in this its first position its unseen filling in is chiefly from the region of gravity; hence its soft, grave, dull, heavy effect; and it passes very easily to the subdominant chord. When it stands as G C E G it stands mixingly with the dominant G b C d E G, and has its third position and most brilliant effect and uprising, for its unseen filling in is then chiefly from the region of levity; and it passes easily to the dominant chord. When in its second position, its middle position E G C E, its unseen filling in is mixingly both subdominant and dominant, E f G a b C d E; it has then its most interesting and puzzling effect; on the one hand its softest, dullest, and one-est, on the other hand its most brilliant effect, as if it would at once both sink and soar. [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 72]

If we may add a note to a chord, we may also vice versa add that chord to that note. If we may add F to the dominant chord G B D f, we may add the dominant chord to F, thus, g b d F, in some other [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 80]

By affinity the notes group in chords. The tonic is the center chord, the key of the harmony; the dominant is the fifth above it and the subdominant the fifth below it, and these two are balanced on the center chord as the scales on a balance beam. The dominant chord is vigorous and active, tending to soar; the subdominant is solemn, soft, and grave, tending to sink; the tonic is melodious and restful, and in it the harmony finds equilibrium. This far AFFINITY. [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 91]

Subdominant - F, A, C E G, B, D - dominant


- and it is balanced between the two forces. If the effects of notes or chords depended solely on their ratios, then the effect of the subdominant, tonic, and dominant would have been alike, for these chords have exactly the same ratios. The centrifugal force of the notes of the dominant chord would take if away from the tonic chord; but Nature, in her skill to build and mix, has in the octave scale placed the middle of the dominant B under the root of the tonic C, and the top of the dominant D under the middle of the tonic E; so that these two rising notes are inevitably resolved into the tonic chord. The gravitating tendencies of the notes of the subdominant would take it also away from the tonic; but in the octave scale Nature has placed the middle of the subdominant A above the top of the tonic G, and the root of the subdominant F above the middle of the tonic E; so that these two falling notes also are inevitably resolved into the tonic chord. In this way two notes resolve to the center of the tonic, D upwards and F downwards; one to the top, A to G, and one to the root, B to C. Nature has thus placed the notes which have upward tendencies under the notes having downward tendencies; she has also related them by proximity, the distance from the one to the other being always either a semitone or the small tone of the ratio 9:10. [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 95]

"The notes as they naturally arise from unity have different degrees of development, and according to the degree of development of each note is its specific levity or gravity. The three notes which form the subdominant chord have different degrees of gravity; the three which form the dominant chord have different degrees of levity. The remaining note is the center of the tonic chord -

Subdominant - F, A, C E G, B, D - dominant

[Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 95]

"All the bodies in the Solar System, in a general way, are attracted to the sun according to the Law of Masses; but all the satellites are attracted to their planets according to the Law of Distance. The subdominant and dominant chords in the Musical System, in a general way, are attracted to the tonic center; but each note in the octave scale is attracted to its nearest note by the Law of Proximity. [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 96]

"The three notes of the dominant chord resolve by each note going to the next note upward - G soars to A, B to C, D to E. The three notes of the subdominant resolve by each note going to the next note downward - C sinks to B, A to G, F to E. The two upper notes of the dominant resolve into the tonic chord according to the Laws of Proximity and Specific Levity; and the two lower notes of the subdominant resolve into the tonic chord according to the Laws of Proximity and Specific Gravity. And in this way Nature, in chord-resolution, has two strings to her bow." [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 96]

dominant; and either of these chords may also follow the tonic; but when the dominant follows the subdominant, as they have no note in common, the root of the subdominant is added to the dominant chord, and this forms the dominant seventh; and when the subdominant follows the dominant, the top of the dominant is added to the subdominant, and this forms the subdominant sixth. The sixth and seventh of the octave scale is the only place these two compound chords are positively required; but from their modifying and resolvable character they are very generally used. When the dominant is compounded by having the root of the subdominant, its specific effect is considerably lower; and when the subdominant is compounded by having the top of the dominant, its specific effect is considerably higher. In the octave scale the notes of the subdominant and dominant chords are placed round the notes of the tonic chord in such a way was to give the greatest amount of contrast between their notes and the tonic notes. In the tonic chord the note which has the greatest amount of specific gravity is its root; and in the octave scale it has below it the middle and above it the top of the dominant, the two notes which have the greatest amount of specific levity; and in the octave scale it has above it the middle and below it the root of the subdominant - the two notes which the greatest amount of specific gravity. The third note of the scale, the middle of the tonic chord, is the center of the system, and is the note which has the least tendency either upwards or downwards, and it has above it the root of the subdominant, the note which has the greatest amount of specific gravity, and it has below it the top of the dominant, the note which has the greatest amount of specific levity. Thus the root of the subdominant is placed above, and the top of the dominant below, the center of the system; the specific gravity of the one above and the specific levity of the one below cause them to move in the direction of the center. [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 98]


Here on the keyboard we see, nearest to the front, the great 3-times-3 chord of the full genesis of the scale from F1 to F64. When this chord is struck by the notched lath represented in front of the keyboard, the whole harmony of the key is heard at once. Behind this great chord are placed, to the left the subdominant, tonic, and dominant chords of the minor. D F A, A E C, E G B; and to the right the subdominant, tonic, and dominant chords of the major, F A C, C E G, G B D. When the notched lath is shifted from F to D, the minor third below F, and the 3-times-3 minor is struck down in the same way as the major, the whole harmony is heard; and the complete contrast of effect between major and minor harmony can be fully pronounced to the ear by this means. Behind these six diatonic chords, major and minor, on the part of the keyboard nearest to the black keys, are the three chromatic chords in their four-foldness, in both major and minor form. The center one shows the diatonic germ of the chromatic chord, with its supplement of G# on the one hand completing its minor form, and its supplement of A♭ on the other hand completing its major form. A great deal of teaching may be illustrated by this plate.

ERRATUM. - B♭, first chromatic chord, misplaced.
[Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 104]


are always when they have returned to the side from which they were started. The Pendulographer, also, when writing the beautiful pictures which the musical ratios make when a pen is placed under the control of the pendulums, always finds his figure to begin again when the pendulums have finished their period, and have come for a fresh start to the side from which the period began. This confirms our author's definition of an oscillation of a pendulum. Fig. 3 is an illustration of the correct definition of a Musical Vibration, as also given in this work. Although the definition of an oscillation is not identical with that of a vibration, yet on account of their movement in the same ratios the one can be employed in illustration of the other as we have here done. Fig. 4 is a uniform rod suspended from the end as a pendulum; it will oscillate, of course, at a certain speed according to its length. In such a pendulum there are three centers related in an interesting way to the subject of Music in its three chords - subdominant, tonic, and dominant, which roots are F, C, and G. The center of gravity in the middle of the rod at 2, suspended at which the rod has no motion, corresponds to F, the root of the subdominant, in which there is the maximum of musical gravity. The center of oscillation at 3, which is one-third of the length of the rod from the end, is like the root of the tonic whose number is 3 in the genesis of the scale from F1. In this point of suspension the oscillations are the same as when suspended from the end at 1. The point at 9 is at a ninth from the center of oscillation. Our author discovered that, if suspended at this point, the pendulum had its highest rate of speed. Approaching the end, or approaching the center of oscillation from this point, the rate of speed decreases. Exactly at one-ninth from the center of oscillation, or two-ninths from the end, is this center of velocity, as Ramsay designated it; and it corresponds in some sort also to the root of the dominant G, which is 9 in the genesis of the scale from F1; its rate of vibration is nine times that of F1. The dominant chord is the one in which is the maximum of levity and motion in music. [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 105]

With perfect duality of response does resolution of chords go on in the minors. When the tonic chord follows the subdominant one, they have for their note in common A, i.e., in the key of A; and the middle of the subdominant moves by semitonic progression to the top of the tonic. When the tonic chord follows the dominant one, the top of the tonic and the root of dominant E is a note in common, and the top of the dominant goes by semitonic progression to the middle of the tonic. These simple chords are thus linked together exactly with the same degree of continuity as the simple chords of the major. When the tonic chord follows the compound subdominant, this compound chord, like the compound dominant in the major, has two semitonic progressions - one to the top and one to the middle of the tonic - and they have one note in common. When the compound dominant follows the subdominant, the root of the subdominant is lent to the top of the dominant, and thus a note in common is created, and the middle of the subdominant moves by semitonic progression to the root of the dominant. When the compound subdominant follows the dominant, the top is lent to the root of the subdominant, creating a note in common between them, and the root of the dominant goes to the middle of the subdominant in semitonic progression. This is the way of Nature. The unbroken continuity of her ways is perfectly illustrated in the linked sweetness and kinship of chords in a key; or when one key passes by modulation to another key; and that through all the chords and all the keys. We shall see wondrously more of this when we come to the study and contemplation of the Chromatic System of Chords. [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 112]

SYSTEM OF THE THREE PRIMITIVE CHROMATIC CHORDS.


The middle portion with the zigzag and perpendicular lines are the chromatic chords, as it were arpeggio'd. They are shown 5-fold, and have their major form from the right side, and their minor form from the left. In the column on the right they are seen in resolution, in their primary and fullest manner, with the 12 minors. The reason why there are 13 scales, though called the 12, is that F# is one scale and G♭ another on the major side; and D# and E♭ separated the same way on the minor side. Twelve, however, is the natural number for the mathematical scales as well as the tempered ones. But as the mathematical scales roll on in cycles, F# is mathematically the first of a new cycle, and all the notes of the scale of F# are a comma and the apotome minor higher than G♭. And so also it is on the minor side, D# is a comma and the apotome higher than E♭. These two thirteenth keys are therefore simply a repetition of the two first; a fourteenth would be a repetition of the second; and so on all through till a second cycle of twelve would be completed; and the thirteenth to it would be just the first of a third cycle a comma and the apotome minor higher than the second, and so on ad infinitum. In the tempered scales F# and G♭ on the major side are made one; and D# and E♭ on the minor side the same; and the circle of the twelve is closed. This is the explanation of the thirteen in any of the plates being called twelve. The perpendicular lines join identical notes with diverse names. The zigzag lines thread the rising Fifths which constitute the chromatic chords under diverse names, and these chords are then seen in stave-notation, or the major and minor sides opposites. The system of the Secondary and Tertiary manner of resolution might be shown in the same way, thus exhibiting 72 resolutions into Tonic chords. But the Chromatic chord can also be used to resolve to the Subdominant and Dominant chords of each of these 24 keys, which will exhibit 48 more chromatic resolutions; and resolving into the 48 chords in the primary, secondary, and tertiary manners, will make 144 resolutions, which with 72 above make 216 resolutions. These have been worked out by our author in the Common Notation, in a variety of positions and inversions, and may be published, perhaps, in a second edition of this work, or in a practical work by themselves. [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 115]

See Also


07 - Chart Showing the Conditions Governing Harmonious Chords
09 - Chart Defining the different Chord Associations
antagonistic chord
Chord
chord aggregation
chord center
chord mass
chord media
Chord of B
chord of equation
chord of harmony
Chord of Life Windchime
Chord of Mass
chord of resonation
chord of sympathy
chord of the mass
chord-setting
coincident chord
coincident chord of sympathy
coincident sympathetic chord
compound chord
Concordant Chord Settings
Concordant Chords of Sympathy
Diatonic Scale
Dominant
Dominant as Controller
Dominant Current
dominant etheric sixths
Dominant Order
etheric chord
etheric dominant
Factor-chord
Figure 1.1 - Chord Signatures of Brain Convolutions
Figure 14.05 - The Dominant is the Light of the Mind of Diety
Figure 18.03 - Keely Chart Showing Acoustic Resonance of the Brain Chord
Figure 8.7 - Varying Degrees of Chordal Harmony and Discord
Full Harmonic Chord
harmonic attractive chord
invisible universe is dominant
Law of the Dominant
life chord
Lost Chord
Mass Chord
MASS CHORDS
mass-chord
monochord
MUSICAL CHORDS
nine string chord
Predominantly Entropy
Predominantly Syntropy
Subdominant
Superdominant
sympathetic chord
Sympathetic Chord Molecular
Sympathetic Chord Positive
Table 14.04 - Occurrences of the term dominant in SVP Keely files
terrestrial chord-masses
tetrachord
The Chord-Settings of Life
THEORY OF THE INDUCTION OF SYMPATHETIC CHORDS TO EXCITE ROTATION BY VIBROPHONIC TRAJECTION TO AND FROM CENTERS OF NEUTRALITY ON REVOLVING GLOBE
three chords of the Diatonic Scale
transmissive chord
11.13 - Dominant Conditions are Mated Opposing Pairs as Fifths
11.18 - Keelys Dominant - Harmonic and Enharmonic
11.19 - Spirit is Dominant
12 - Chart of Differentiation of Setting Chords on Vibratory Bar
13.38 - Theory of the Induction of Sympathetic Chords to Excite Rotation by Vibraphonic Trajection to and from Centers of Neutrality on Revolving Globe
14.13 - Full Harmonic Chord
14.16 - Dominant
14.17 - Dominant is a Catalyst
14.19 - Dominant is Light
14.20 - Dominant is Light of Mind or Thought or Idea
14.22 - Dominant is the High Neutral
14.24 - Dominant causes Magnetism
14.25 - Dominant is Light of Electrical Spark
14.26 - Dominant is Light of Mind
14.27 - Mind being Dominant is Creative
15.23 - Water is Predominantly Diamagnetic
16.25 - Magnetic Attraction caused by Dominant Current of Electrical Stream
19.02 - Theory of the Induction of Sympathetic Chords to Excite Rotation
8.21 - Signature same as Chord

Created by Dale Pond. Last Modification: Wednesday June 1, 2022 03:09:32 MDT by Dale Pond.