Aeolian harmony (Björnberg 1985) is harmony or chord progression created from chords of the Aeolian mode: Im, bIII, IVm, Vm, bVI, and bVII.
There are common subsets including: Im-bVII-bVI, Im-IVm-Vm, and blues minor pentatonic derived chord sequences such as I-bIII-IV, I-IV, bVII (The verse of "I'm Your Man"). All these subsets lack perfect cadences (V-I) and may be thought of as derived from recursive fourth structures. Middleton (1990, p.198) suggests that both modal and fourth-orientated structures, rather than being "distortions or surface transformations of Schenker's favoured V-I kernel, it is more likely that both are branches of a deeper principle, that of tonic/not-tonic differentiation."
Source
- Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). Studying Popular Music. Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 0335152759.
