Chapter 8 - Harmonic Composition 1: Fundamentals
- Part-writing - It requires knowledge of melody, interval, triads, seventh chords, cadences, non-chord tones, figured bass, chromatic harmony, resolution tendencies, counterpoint, and progressional norms.
The Simple Part-Writing Rules
Know the vocal ranges and stay within the heart of each range
- The soprano and the tenor are always written with the stem up.
- The alto and the bass are always written with the stems down.
Write for four different voices; they are individual characters
- Know the contrapuntal character of each voice.
- The bass is always given.
- The soprano is always the melody.
- The alto and the tenor are as static as possible.
Motion is the key to a successful counterpoint
- Motion - The direction the melody moves in relation to the bass line.
- Contrary motion - Moves the melody in the opposite direction of the bass.
- Oblique motion - When one voice remains on the same note and the other moves in either direction.
- Similar motion - When the bass and the soprano move in the same direction but at different intervals.
- Parallel motion - Where the soprano and bass move in the same direction and at the same interval.
Don’t confuse the ear
- Crossed voices - Where you can’t write the soprano voice lower than the alto or the alto voice lower than the tenor within the same chord.
- Remember the goal is to write four different separate lines.
- Overlap - Where you don’t want to write one voice higher than another voice has been in the previous chord.
- If the bass is given, we can’t control it, but we can control the other three.
- If the bass is in a higher range, the soprano is usually in the high end of her range.
Spacing is an issue
- The soprano and the alto must be within an octave of each other, and the alto must be within an octave of the tenor.
- The soprano, alto, and tenor need to have an available range of two octaves.
- It doesn’t matter how far the tenor is from the bass.
- If the soprano is high, the tenor will be high.
- The tenor should be singing above C4 for most of the time.
Double the root first, the fifth second, and the third with a reason
- When you have a triad and four available voices, one chord member will be doubled.
- The first choice is to double the root of the chord, especially if it’s a major chord.
- The second choice is to double the fifth of the chord.
- Don’t double the third of the chord except for minor chords with a reason.
- ^^Ex. →^^ When V goes to vi, double the third in the vi chord to avoid parallelism.
- Never double a tendency tone.
Resolutions
- If V goes to I (i) or VI (vi), then Ti resolves upward to Do.
- If vii°/vii°7 or V7 goes to I (i) or VI (vi), then Ti resolves to Do and Fa resolves to Mi.
- If you have a seventh chord of any kind, then the seventh of the chord resolves downward or holds until it can.
Determine the Roman numerals and create the road map
- Road map - The visible reminder of the menu of chord member choices, appropriate doublings, and resolutions.
- Write the Roman numeral chord symbols below the figured bass.
- The chord stack is written below.
Write the melody
- Look at the bass and observe the shape.
- Recognize it has ascending and descending lines.
- Try to create a melody that moves in contrary or oblique motion to the bass line.
- Fill the alto and the tenor at the same time.
Check your work
- When you have common tones between chords, you can make them half tones.
- Avoid syncopations using ties over the bar line.
- Be careful when resolving the tritone in the V7 chord to avoid unequal fifths.
- Unequal fifths - The motion from the diminished fifth to a perfect fifth, especially in the soprano-bass pair.
- Typically, when resolving the root position V7 to I, particularly at cadence, either V7 or I will be incomplete for smooth voice leading.