Download Tonal Harmony Chapter 5 Pinciples of Voice Leading

Chapter Five
Principles of Voice Leading
Introduction
 Composer thinks of several aspects more or less simultaneously
o Melody
o Harmony
o Rhythm
 Focus on questions relating to the harmonic aspect of tonal music because it is the aspect that
most clearly delineates tonal music from other types
 Basically vocabulary of tonal harmony
o Triads
o Seventh chord
o Harmony Progression
o Voice leading
 Voice leading (part writing): chords are produced by the motions of individual musical lines
 Counterpoint: refer to the combining of relatively independent musical lines
 Naturally, the style of voice leading will depend on:
o Composer
o Musical effect
o Performing medium (e.g. large melodic leaps)
 Study of the voice leading norms
The Melodic Line
 Use the following procedures:
o Rhythm
 Simple
 Most durations being equal or longer than the duration of the beat
 Final note should occur on a strong beat
o Harmony
 Every melody note should belong to the chord that is to harmonize it
o Contour
 The melody should be primarily conjunct (stepwise)
 Single focal point
o Leaps
 Avoid augmented intervals, 7ths,and intervals larger than P8
 Diminished intervals may be with an immediate change of direction in stepwise
motion
 Melodic interval larger than P4 is usually best approached and left in the
direction opposite to the leap
 When smaller leaps are used consecutively in the same direction, they should
outline a triad
o
Tendency tones
 7th has a strong tendency to move up to 1st except when the melody is
descending scalewise from 1st
 4th move to 3rd but not with the regularity with which 7th goes to 1st
Notating Chords
 Musical score: shows all the parts of an ensemble arranged one above the other
 Full score: all or most of the parts are notated on their own individual staves
 Reduced score: notated at concert pitch on as few staves as possible
Voicing a Single Triad
 The way in which a chord is spaced has a great deal of influence on its aural effect
 “Muddy” effect (example 5-7)
 Close structure: less than an octave between soprano and tenor
 Open structure: an octave or more between soprano and tenor
 Crossed voices
o Do not allow any part to cross above the soprano
o Do not allow any part to cross below the bass
 Spacing
o Avoid overly spacious sonorities, keeping adjacent upper parts within an octave
 No more than an octave between soprano and alto
 No more than an octave between alto and tenor
 It is acceptable to have more than an octave between tenor and bass
 Observe the range of each voicing (refer to Example 5-12)
Parallel Motion
 Five possible relationships between any two voices or parts:
o Static: neither part moves
o Oblique: only one part moves
o Contrary: both move but in opposite directions
o Similar: both move in same direction but by different intervals
o Parallel: both move in same direction by the same interval
 When the texture contains more than two voices, they will be more ”pairs” of voices to consider
o Three parts: 3 pairs
o Four parts: 6 pairs
 Avoid parallels 5ths and 8ves (example 5-15), parallels 12ths and unisons
 Composers of tonal music generally followed the convention, dating from around 1450
 Regained acceptance in the twentieth century
 Objectionable parallels: result when two parts that are separated by a P5 or a P8, or by their
octave equivalents, move to as new pitch classes that are separated by the same interval
 Parallel 4ths are acceptable
 Contrary 5ths and 8ves: also called consecutive 5ths and 8ths by contrary motion were also
generally avoided, at least in vocal music
 Unequal 5ths: result when a P5 is followed by a o5, or the reverse , in the same two voices
o Acceptable unless when a o5 – P5 between the bass and another voices

Direct (or hidden) 5th or 8ve: Outer parts move in the same direction into a P5 or P8, with a leap
in the soprano part (with a leap or a step in the bass) (example 5-20)
o Avoidance of parallels of all types were somewhat less strictly maintained in
instrumental than in vocal music
Final thoughts
 Use parallel 5ths and 8ves very sparingly , and in such a way that the listener’s attention will not
be drawn to them
 Parallels involving both of the outer parts are especially rare and should be avoided
 Beethoven was trying to evoke a rustic, unsophisticated atmosphere through the use of the
parallels (example 5-22)