Bach Chorale - Checklist

‘Double SLAP’

Checklist

Double - Doubling

S - Spacing & Suspensions

L - Leaps & Leading notes

A - Accidentals & Avoid augmented (and diminished) intervals

P - Parallels & Passing sevenths

S - Spacing

• The top three parts should generally be as close as possible

• If there is a large gap, it should be between the bass and the tenor

• There should be no more than an octave between Sop & Alto or Alto & Tenor

• Avoid crossing parts

• Avoid Overlapping parts

S - Suspensions

• The dissonant note must be prepared in the same voice in the previous beat

• The suspension must resolve by a descending step

L - Leaps

• The bass part tends to leap a bit more than the alto & tenor, which are as straightforward and stepwise as possible

• The bass line (like the sop) tends to have slightly more interesting melody

• Inner parts anchor the texter and should therefore leap much less than the bass - Boring is Best!!!

• Consecutively repeated notes are preferred - where there is a common tone between two chords, keep it in the same voice

L - Leading notes

• Leading notes must rise mid-phrase

  Or

• Fall to the 5th of the final chord at a cadence

A - Accidentals

• Don’t forget to sharpen the seventh degree of the scale in a minor key (e.g. G# in A minor)

• Don’t forget to add the necessary accidentals in modulations

A - Avoid augments (and diminished) intervals

Tritone (augmented fourth or diminished fifth)

• In the bass, check that what you think is a perfect fourth or fifth, is not in fact a tritone between scale degrees four & seven. It is easy to eliminate the tritone by changing either the inversions or the chord progression itself.

Augmented second (which usually appears between the sixth and seventh notes of the minor scale)

• Avoid augmented seconds by using the melodic minor scale (e.g. raise 6 & 7 on way up, and lower 6 & 7 on the way down)

P - Parallels

Avoid parallel consecutive fifths and octaves

• You must not write fifths or octaves that ate both consecutive (i.e. in two chords that are next to each other) and parallel (i.e. moving in the same direction)

Avoid hidden or exposed fifths and octaves

• You must avoid similar motion to an octave or a fifth between the outer parts (Sop & Bass) when (and only when) the Sop is leaping

P - Passing sevenths

• Use the 7 of a V7 as a passing note at cadences