Text: One of the most important ingredients of modern music. Not only is it exceedingly beautiful to the ear, but from its peculiar form it gives the greatest possible facilities for modulation from key to key, whether closely related or not. It consists of a dominant, its major third, major (perfect) fifth, minor seventh, and minor ninth. In its inversions the dominant, that is, the root or ground-note, is nearly always omitted. The chord is as often found in music in a major key, as in that in a minor. The beauty of the inversions no doubt arises from the fact that they consist practically of a combination of minor thirds. The alteration of the notation of the inversion of this chord gives scope for rapid enharmonic modulation. Without altering the sound of a chord (ninth) it may be made to lead into any key. Such a change of notation as this, without a change of sound, is termed an enharmonic modulation. It has already been shown that the chord may resolve either into the major or minor mode; therefore the tonic minors of the chord, and also the keys related to them, may be reached with equal facility. A Dictionary of Musical Terms Minor Ninth 32:15 Major Ninth 9:4

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