The Sixth Scale Degree

Those of you lucky enough to make it to the last concert of BCE’s 10th season witnessed a special moment on Friday night: our outgoing artistic director, Miguel Felipe, took the BCE podium for the last time to conduct our signature piece, Virgil Thomson’s majestic arrangement of “My Shepherd Will Supply My Need” (1938).

Now, even if this piece of music had none of the emotional import that comes with being a BCE standard, I’d still love it. And it’s because of one simple musical gesture: what an intro music theory textbook will call the “deceptive,” but I will call the “best,” cadence. A cadence, as you might guess from the name, is a term for the harmonic conclusion of a musical phrase. It’s the period to a musical sentence. And a deceptive cadence distinguishes itself because it sounds like it’s going back to the tonic, or harmonic basis of the piece, but then turns a corner and ends up somewhere else:

The six chord.

If this sounds completely obtuse, don’t fret; you only need to follow me enough to appreciate what will shortly become my slightly heavy-handed controlling metaphor. So. The tonic chord has three notes in it: the first (the “tonic”), third, and fifth notes of the key. The six chord, where our deceptive cadence ends up, still has the tonic and third notes, but instead of that fifth to round it out and make it sound like home, instead we get the sixth scale degree. In a tune like “My Shepherd,” the familiar tonic functions differently in the six chord, making it minor–a bit sad. And that sixth scale degree lends drama to the situation, leading our ear to yearn for that missing fifth. In “My Shepherd,” Thomson uses the deceptive cadence at the midpoint of the verses, highlighting the tension in phrases like “when I forsake His ways.” And Thomson’s trick isn’t unusual; the deceptive cadence turns up in countless songs and ballads to lend a tear-jerking harmonic “pull” to the music. You’ll hear a form of it in everything from “Loch Lomond” (“I’ll be in Scotland afore ye…”) to The Beatles’ “Yesterday” (“all my troubles seemed so far away…”).

This one musical gesture, then, can do an awful lot of emotional work even in a simple hymn setting. It hearkens sadness and longing, familiarity and nostalgia. But a deceptive cadence does one more thing–and this is where we come back around to BCE–in all its unsteadiness, it anticipates and drives us toward home and resolution. Shortly before Miguel lifted his baton, BCE President Lauren Roller welcomed and recognized our incoming artistic director, Dr. Andrew Shenton. And so Thomson’s “My Shepherd” was really a perfect musical accompaniment to the moment. With fond memories and warmest wishes for the future, we thank Miguel for seven remarkable years with the Boston Choral Ensemble. And we look forward with great excitement to making music under Andrew’s capable leadership.

“There would I find a settled rest, While others go and come / No more a stranger or a guest, But like a child at home.”

Aaron Hatley, B1