Quartal and quintal harmony

"Fourth chord" redirects here. For other uses, see Eleventh chord § Fourth.

In music, quartal harmony is the building of harmonic structures built from the intervals of the perfect fourth, the augmented fourth and the diminished fourth. For instance, a three-note quartal chord on C can be built by stacking perfect fourths, C–F–B♭.

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c' { \clef treble \time 4/4 <c f bes>1 } }

Quintal harmony is harmonic structure preferring the perfect fifth, the augmented fifth and the diminished fifth. For instance, a three-note quintal chord on C can be built by stacking perfect fifths, C–G–D.

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c' { \clef treble \time 4/4 <c g' d'>1 } }