Grade 7 Music Theory, Unit 2, Lesson 2 of 6
Brainlag Music

The Italian sixth

Music theory, Augmented sixths, 12 minutes

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The simplest augmented sixth: three different notes, the tonic doubled.

Three notes

In C major: IVb, the Italian sixth (A flat, C, C, F sharp), V, I

The Italian sixth has just three different notes: the flattened submediant (bass), the tonic, and the sharpened subdominant. In four parts, double the tonic: never the bass or the sharpened subdominant, which both have places to go.

The rest of this lesson and its 5 practice questions are in Brainlag Music Theory.

Screen 1 of 3, free to read.

  • 5 exam-style questions, marked as you go, each with a worked solution
  • Anything you get wrong is saved to your flashcards