An F minor triad in C major requires an A flat, which the key signature does not give. Unlike a secondary dominant, the chord is not pointing at another key: F minor is the subdominant of C minor, and C minor is C major’s parallel mode. The tonic has not moved. Only the mode has leaned.
\nEvery major key has a parallel minor key with the same tonic, and the two share a set of chords that differ only in the third, sixth and seventh degrees. Mixture, also called modal mixture or modal interchange, is the practice of taking a chord from the parallel mode while the passage continues in the original one.
\nThis is what separates mixture from the chromatic devices that surround it. A secondary dominant imports the dominant of a different tonic, so it points somewhere. Mixture imports a chord with a different colour but the same tonic, so it points nowhere in particular. It can sit in the middle of a phrase without any obligation to confirm anything, because nothing was claimed.
\nThe borrowed chord does not need to be a chord that exists in the parallel minor. The third, sixth and seventh degrees are the variables, and any combination of them produces a usable chord, which is why the list below runs to half a dozen members rather than three.
\n| Chord in C major | Notes | Where it comes from | Usual function | Typical resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| iv | F–A flat–C | C minor subdominant | pre-dominant | to V, or plagally to I |
| flat VI | A flat–C–E flat | C minor submediant | pre-dominant | to V, or to flat VII |
| flat III | E flat–G–B flat | C minor mediant | tonic substitute | to IV, flat VI or V |
| flat VII | B flat–D–F | C minor subtonic | dominant substitute | to I, or to IV |
| ii half-diminished seventh | D–F–A flat–C | C minor supertonic | pre-dominant | to V |
| flat II in first inversion | D flat–F–A flat, F in bass | Neapolitan, borrowed | pre-dominant | to V, often through a cadential six-four |
| v | G–B flat–D | C minor dominant | modal cadence | to I, with a lowered seventh degree |
The lowered sixth degree is the note that most of these chords have in common, and it is the note that does most of the expressive work. A flat VI, an iv, a ii half-diminished seventh and a Neapolitan all contain A flat in C major, and each of them approaches the dominant from a semitone above its bass note or its fifth. That is why mixture is so often a pre-dominant device: it strengthens the arrival on V by making the ear wait for it.
\n\nThe borrowed chords that behave like pre-dominants are easy to place, because they resolve the way their diatonic equivalents do. The iv chord resolves to V, and to I when it wants a plagal close. The ii half-diminished seventh resolves to V with the same downward pull by fifth that a ii seventh has. The Neapolitan resolves to V, and in the classical repertoire it very often passes first through a cadential six-four, which puts the dominant in the bass a beat early and delays the leading tone.
\nTwo of the chords on the list do not behave functionally in the traditional sense, and that is their value. The flat VII is a subtonic rather than a leading-tone chord, so it can move directly to the tonic without any dominant preparation at all, which is the motion behind an enormous amount of rock and folk repertoire. The flat VI can precede the flat VII and produce the same arrival in two steps: A flat, B flat, C. Both progressions are diatonic in the Aeolian mode, which raises a question of labelling worth settling before the analysis gets carried away.
\n\nIf the whole passage is Aeolian, with a natural minor scale and no raised leading tone, then a flat VII is not borrowed at all. It is simply the dominant of the prevailing mode. Mixture presupposes a major or minor tonal centre with a functioning dominant, and a chord that contradicts that assumption is evidence that the centre is not what the analyst assumed. Deciding which of the two is happening is a matter of the cadence: a piece that ends V–i in the minor mode and also uses flat VII in passing is mixing modes, while a piece that ends flat VII–I throughout is in a mode.
\nThe augmented sixth chords are the most chromatic members of the borrowed set, and they are grouped by the interval rather than by the chord. All three are built on the lowered sixth degree, which sits in the bass, and all three contain an augmented sixth above that bass note. In C minor the bass is A flat and the augmented sixth is F sharp.
\n| Name | Notes in C minor | Intervals above A flat | Resolution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Italian sixth | A flat–C–F sharp | major third, augmented sixth | the sixth expands to the octave on G |
| French sixth | A flat–C–D–F sharp | major third, augmented fourth, augmented sixth | same, with the fourth resolving to the fifth of V |
| German sixth | A flat–C–E flat–F sharp | major third, perfect fifth, augmented sixth | same, with the fifth held into the cadential six-four |
The gap between A flat and F sharp is the point. The interval is an augmented sixth: ten semitones, one more than a major sixth, which is why the two notes are under pressure to move outward to the octave, and in practice they do: A flat descends to G and F sharp ascends to G. The result is a dominant, usually reached through a cadential six-four. In a major key the chord requires the borrowed lowered sixth degree, which is why the augmented sixth belongs in a discussion of mixture rather than in a chapter of its own.
\nThe German sixth has a second identity. Respell F sharp as G flat and the chord A flat, C, E flat, G flat is an A flat dominant seventh, which resolves not to C but to D flat. The same four pitches are a pre-dominant in one key and a dominant in another, and later composers used that overlap deliberately. The modulation article follows that thread; here it is enough to note that a chord can belong to two keys at once and that the notation is what tells the player which one is intended.
\n\nThree errors recur often enough to be worth naming.
\nThe first is calling every chromatic chord mixture. A chromatic passing tone between two diatonic notes is not mixture, and neither is a secondary dominant, whose raised third points at a different tonic. The test is the third of the chord. In C major, an E major triad contains G sharp and behaves as V/vi. An E flat major triad contains the borrowed lowered third degree and is mixture. The two chords differ by one scale degree and by their entire function.
\nThe second is labelling mixture in a modal context. A song that stays on a flat VII chord and never raises the seventh degree is not borrowing from anywhere. Retrospective labels that call the modal chords of a rock song “borrowed from the parallel minor” describe the surface and miss the structure.
\nThe third is stacking borrowed chords faster than they can resolve. Mixture is a colouring device, and a passage in four parts in which every chord carries a lowered degree gives the ear no diatonic frame to measure against. Two borrowed chords in a phrase are usually enough for the effect they produce; four in a row tend to sound like a mistake in the parts.
\nCompetent use of mixture is mostly a question of placement.
\nPut a borrowed iv where a diatonic IV would go and the phrase turns inward for a beat, then resolves as usual. Put a flat VI before the dominant and the arrival is delayed and darkened. Put a flat VII directly before the tonic and the cadence becomes modal and open, which is why it appears so often at the end of a chorus. The Neapolitan earns its keep in minor keys, where it supplies the strongest pre-dominant available, and in major keys where a sudden flat II in first inversion announces a serious moment.
\nThe practical discipline is to check the resolutions. Every lowered sixth degree wants to descend to the dominant, and every raised fourth degree wants to ascend to it. When a borrowed chord arrives and neither of those happens, the ear hears the chromaticism as unexplained, and the next phrase has to work harder than it should. Play the chord, resolve it as the table suggests, and the difference between a good borrow and an accidental one is audible in a single hearing.
\nThe virtual piano is enough to test that difference: hold a plain IV, then an iv, and listen to which one makes the following dominant feel inevitable.
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