Lessons with Matthaeus

Wow! I was surprised that despite the tritone, a diminished chord in 1st inversion can be used without preparation, and a simple 6/4 chord can't! I thought that the perfect 4th is a consonance!

Thanks for the clarification! I try to keep this in mind in the future.

And the homework?

Not ready, yet. It's much harder than the previous homeworks....

As far as I know, the III in minor can be augmented by using the leading note for the 5th of the chord (F - A - C# in d minor). Can I use it in 1st inversion in this exercise? If yes, how? (Sorry about these silly questions)

Hmm that's true but I wouldn't worry about using III6/#3 yet, wait until we get onto dominants next lesson!

If you're stuck remember we talked about the root motion by fifths, fourths, sixths and thirds that helps to prevent consecutive and very weak progressions.

If you want to use chord III, keep it as a major triad (F A C in d minor), which you can of course have in 6/3 inversion. Sorry I should really have said something about that before, you're right!

Ok good luck.

Hi! I have 2 progressions done (not attached, yet), 4 more to go...

Another annoying question:

V-I, IV-I, V-vi, etc. are cadences. Are V6/3 - I, IV6/3 - I and V6/3 - vi cadences, too?

Hmm - well it depends how you look at it really - if you're a music analyst and you need them to be cadences, they can be, but then if you want them not to be they don't have to be...

But 6/3 cadences aren't really much good for final cadences at the end of a phrase, except perhaps with imperfect cadences as I showed you early on - so if you want to use for example V6/3 - I as part of a progression, then do, because it'll sound good. But at the end of the exercise, I wouldn't use it as the final cadence. The same applies to the others (except the IV6/3 - I with the passing note in the bass that we saw before).

Don't worry about the questions though! There will come a time when you will know all these things and I'll be testing you!

Matt

OK, understood: The best thing is to stick to cadences described in earlier lessons. I'll finish my homework as soon as I get a chance and asking if something is not clear.

Thanks for your answer, I'll try to keep everything in mind.

Hi, Matt!

Still not ready (2 more to go) and still have questions!

1.) Is the perfect 5th acceptable as the resolution of the tritone (one of the notes repeated)?

2.) I have a diminished chord in 1st inversion and the augmented 4th is between the Soprano and Alto. Is it an acceptable resolution that the Soprano steps a semitone up, and the Alto does not steps down (moves in another direction) but the desired note is presented in the Tenor.

eg. ii6/3 -> III in E minor (3rd doubled):

f#-> g

c -> d

A -> B

A -> G

or with the 5th doubled:

f#-> g

c -> d

c -> B

A -> G

Hi M

Hello, Matt!

Finally I've managed to do my homework. Forgive me if you find some weak progressions, but - as usually - it's written on paper first.

And don't worry about replying so late, because I'm really busy, too. It's ok for me if you reply in one or two months - we don't have to hurry. It's much more important for me to make everything clear.

Just one more question:

Are the things I've already learnt sufficient to harmonize a simple melody for a SATB choir?

M

Matthaeus_hw_05.pdf

Matthaeus_hw_05.MUS

Hi M

Hello, Matt!

Thanks for the corrections and the examples! I'll try to do that 2 progressions following the given rules, soon.

Sorry, but I still have some things I don't understand:

1) About progressions by 2nd (and 7th): I see that it's good to have a note in common when moving to another chord, but I feel progressions like IV-V, V-vi, V-IV, VII-i strong, while some progressions like iii-I seems very weak to me.

2) Sorry about the VII in minor but I thought that the leading note is only required at cadences only, since the purpose of a cadence is to define the key (- as in first lesson).

But "vii is always diminished" means that I can never use VII, because it destroyes the sense of minor key?

Is there any rule how to use it safely?

3) OK, it's safe to use the v in minor in 1st inversion when connecting the tonic to the submediant (as in my F sharp minor prog.), but is there any other situation when it can be used in root position?

4) Is vii6/3 - i a cadence (in your ex.i and ex.ii)? I feel it pretty stable.

5) In your ex.iii) you've used a 7th and a 2nd inversion chord. Both have dissonant notes with the bass. Can they be used without preparation?

6) In ex.iv) the tritone of the ii6/3 - V progression is resolved to a perfect 5th, but it sounds very good. The ii6/3 - VI is similar but the resolution is done by motion in the same direction - and it sounds very good, too. Can I use such progression in my homework?

7) I'm using key signatures on paper, but Finale Notepad only supports 1 per file. I'm trying to switch to some console notation program like abcm2ps.

Hi M

Hi M

Hi Matt! I'm really sorry that I couldn't finish my homework, yet, but I was really-really busy. I only want to go on after it's completed. I'm trying to finish it today. :)

I'm especially interested in choral music, but Minuets(!) and String quartets are fine, too. I'm also interested in renaissance-style counterpoint/imitation, but I know that it's a bit harder to learn.

Since male singers (especially tenors) are really rare in my city I would like to write choral pieces for 3 voices (2 female + 1 male voices, 10-20 person). I know that this kind of composition may have incomplete harmonies, so a contrapuntal 3-voice writing would be better and much more interesting than a chord-by-chord one (correct me if I'm wrong!).

But I also know that it's easier to learn how to write 4-voice pieces, so we can start with that.

Hi Matt! The homework is done!

Correction: In the last progression I've left out the "/3" from the v6/3 chord, but it's OK, since v6 has the same meaning.

M

Matthaeus_hw_05-b.pdf

Matthaeus_hw_05-b.MUS

Hi M

OK, I see! The fifth should not be in the soprano, because it results in paralell-like motion with the "tonic->leading note" motion of the inner voice.

Thanks!

Hi Matt! I still have a question about the lesson: From what scale degree should I start a chord progression? It's ok that the first progression of a composition always starts from I (or i) but what about the other ones? In my d minor excercise there are 3 progressions starting from: i, i6/3 and VI. Is it good?

Hi M

Hi M

suspensions binder.pdf

Hey Matt this lesson is great, thanks!

You've mentioned earlier that 6/4 chords need preparation. Does it mean that 6/4 chords are not really exist since they can be treated as 4-3 suspensions (6/4 -> 5/3)?

Ah no - that is one way to handle them. They can also be used in other situations... The lesson I'm half way through preparing explains that.

Hi Matt! Merry Christmas! I must thank you all the things I've learnt from you already, so I've tried to compose a christmas song for you (attached) using suspensions, cadences, etc...

I hope that you like it!

M

matthaeus-Puer_Natus.MUS

Hi M