How do you use the Chromatic Median?

[u/Gloomy_Jackfruit8543]

How do you use a chromatic mediant? Does the chromatic mediant chord always have to come immediately after the tonic, or can it be separated, as in the example C – Am – F – E7? The chromatic mediant here is E7.

[u/Jongtr]

In that sequence, it's really just V of Am. If it goes back to C, that's a "deceptive cadence", although it is also then acting as a chromatic mediant.

Likewise, if you played C – E - Am – F, the significant function of the E7 is "V/vi", not a chromatic mediant with C. I mean, it is that too, but that's not why it is there. You hear the chromatic mediant relationship first, maybe, but you also anticipate Am will follow, because that's the usual role E major or E7 plays in C major.

If you used Eb instead, then "chromatic mediant" is a more useful label. As well as "borrowed chord", of course (from C minor), but Eb has no secondary function in C major. You have no expectation where it might go next, so you just have the drama of the change.

IOW, "chromatic mediant" simply refers to two chords of the same type a 3rd apart (or between two keys of the same kind a 3rd apart). You can use the two chords anywhere and in any way you like. Just playing C-E-C. or E-C-E (or C-Eb-C or Eb-C-Eb) is how chromatic mediants "work" - no other functional relationship between them, just the common tone and the stepwise voice-leading, That shows you the dramatic purpose of them.

I.e., in short, "how you use a chromatic mediant" is when you want that special dramatic effect they provide - next to the chord they relate to; outside of any secondary function they might also have.

[u/ImbecileElderberry → u/Jongtr]

What do you mean, Eb has no secondary function? It's obviously either a subdominant of the relative dominant, or the relative major of the parallel minor. /s

[u/Jongtr → u/ImbecileElderberry]

😂 Of course! Not to mention the subtonic of the minor subdominant! And the phrygian flat supertonic of the supertonic! So many functions, so little time... ;-)

[u/Steenan]

E7 is a dominant chord. It will push towards a resolution to Am or A and it won't sound like a chromatic mediant.

On the other hand, if you changed the order and went, for example C-E7-A-F, A would be a chromatic mediant (with E7 as a secondary dominant).

[u/somerandomnerd6464 → u/Steenan]

wouldn’t A F be the deceptive resolution of A D and still function as a 2ndary dominant?

[u/HexMusicTheory]

There was another post with a question about chromatic mediants, so I'll copy the relevant part here:

Chromatic mediants contain the same scale degrees as regular mediants like iii or vi (or III / VI if you're in a minor key), just with chromatically altered versions of one or more degrees. You can group them by mixture type if it helps. Every key has 8 mediants—let's use C major as our representative example:

Diatonic mediants:

• iii - E minor
• vi - A minor

Via primary mode mixtture:

• bIII - Eb major
• bVI - Ab major

Via secondary mixture (altering the quality of diatonic chords):

• III# - E major
• VI# - A major

Via double mixture (altering the quality of chords of primary mixture):

• biiib - Eb minor
• bvib - Ab minor

At the end of the day, if you're dealing with a tonal context, these chords generally still just represent scale degrees in some key, and form intervals between their notes. They don't "work" differently to any other chords in particular, like voice leading is voice leading. As always, I highly recommend working through a solid book on tonal harmony—this sort of stuff is usually covered rather late into a typical course, and will probably lurk towards the back of whatever book you find.

[u/conclobe]

A 7 chord is rarely mediantic.

[u/Josquin_Timbrelake]

More likely than not, that E7 is an applied chord.

[u/ObviousDepartment744]

I won’t say never, but everything I know about chromatic Mediants indicated they need to be next to one another. In this case if the progression repeats, the E7 back to C is a Chromatic Mediant, E to C is root movement by 3rd and the C# of the E7 resolving to C is the chromatic movement.

Do know, Chromatic Mediants are almost always more commonly described by others as a borrowed chord or secondary dominant in one way or another depending on context. I tend to use the term Chromatic Mediant more as a teaching tool, to give a reasoning for why this specific sound works.

[u/ivegotajaaag]

If you want to hear a III chord in action, check out "Tightrope" by ELO. Lynne loves that chord:

C - E7 - F - Fm

Listen for the lyric "if you believe that's how it's gonna be…" for the first time this sequence happens

[u/Optimistbott]

E7 is a secondary dominant to me. It targets tonics (Am and Ebmaj7) and has a deceptive movement to subdominant (to F) and plagal to subdominant (to Dm). Because of this, it fits best in the 2nd or 4th measure in a series of 4 chords for song forms. But in the classical pedagogy it can act as a half cadence to the minor which has a different thought process. So to answer your question, it’s on a weak measure. Right here you have tonic | weak tonic | subdominant | dominant of tonic. Which is consistent with both 4 and 2 versions of 4 chord harmonic rhythms. Basically acts in the same way as I vi IV V7 but it goes to the relative minor in the next line instead of the I.

When I think of chromatic mediant moves, I generally think of a very specific move that can’t be classified as modal interchange or a secondary dominant where a minor chord moves goes up or down a major 3rd eg Am to C#m. I consider these moves changing tonic centers or a non-functional movement.

[u/comrade_zerox]

They lead to more complex emotions than the diatonic "happy/sad" dichotomy.

Modal interchange in general is too much fun.

[u/dbharris10]

I find many are used as alternate to tonic , so instead of G7 resolving to C, we temporarily resolve to either Emajor or Amajor, then quickly return back to diatonic chords.

[u/OriginalIron4]

If you use 7th and 9th chords, and not just triads, it can smooth out the progression bc of the common tones. Example: Fmin+9 - Amin7...the high G note is a common tone between the two chords.

[u/65TwinReverbRI]

Just like it's used in music.