“Chromatic harmony” is seen as a fundamental part of (extended) tonal music in the Western classical tradition (c.1700–1900). It routinely features in core curricula. Yet even in this globalised and data-driven age, 1) there are significant gaps between how different national “schools” identify important chords and progressions, label them, and shape the corresponding curricula; 2) even many common terms lack robust definition; and 3) empirical evidence rarely features, even in in discussions about “typical”, “representative” practice. This paper addresses those three considerations by: 1) comparing English- and German-speaking traditions as an example of this divergence; 2) proposing a framework for defining common terms where that is lacking; and 3) surveying the actual usage of these chromatic chord categories using a computational corpus study of human harmonic analyses.

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