Discussion 11a - Fundamentals of Part-writing

Class discussion

How do we harmonize a melody?

• Pick a key
• Figure out the harmonic rhythm
• Determine where and what type your cadences are (type determined by notes in melody. Ex: in C, if our last notes in the soprano are B and C we can’t have a plagal cadence because there is no ti in IV)
• Harmonies (using circle of fifths progressions)
• Bassline
• Inner voices

When in doubt: K.I.S.S.

• Focusing on smooth voice leading, correct doubling, and correct tendency tone resolutions will make this process a lot easier! If your voice leading is good, you avoid dealing with a lot of errors because they’re symptoms of bad voice leading

A first attempt at part-writing

• Possible progression: I - ii - V7 - I
  • As you fill in notes, be making sure all chord members are present. Triads always need the third. Seventh chords always need the third and the seventh.
  • Voicing of the last chord (C’s in SAB, E in T) isn’t ideal. It’s very spread out and there’s a third between B and T, which can make the chord sound muddier than if it were somewhere between the upper three voices. This happened because of repeated tones in previous chords
  • When determining your voicings, think of the harmonic series! There’s a lot of space between the lower notes but there’s progressively less the higher you go. If you try to emulate this in your voicings, you’ll end up with better sounding, stronger parts that are less prone to errors