80.102The larger theoretical lesson

A chord symbol tries to answer:

“What chord is sounding?”

But actual music may temporarily make that question impossible—or deliberately irrelevant.

Sometimes the better questions are:

• What pitch is acting as center?
• Which identities are being withheld?
• What functions are still possible?
• Which voice will reveal the answer?
• What destination will reinterpret what I just heard?

This is more subtle than chord labeling.