Lessons with Matthaeus

Hello Matt,

I'm ready with the 1st and 2nd homework (secondary dominants), however I had to leave most of the chords in root position, because inverting them would cause either paralell octaves or doubled leading notes.

I've listened to the string quartet. I like it very much (at least the first 4 mins :) )! Are we going to analyze it or write a similar one?

M

Matthaeus_hw_07.pdf

Matthaeus_hw_07.MUS

Hi M

Ok, Matt I'll try it again!

Oh, and may I use 1st inversions when writing progressions? I find it difficult to use root position chords only and inverting them later.

M

Hi M

Hi, Matt! Posting the C major h/w and the feminine endings. I hope they aren't as bad as the previous...

M

Matthaeus_hw_07-2.pdf

Matthaeus_hw_07-2.MUS

Hi M

Hello Matt,

Thanks for the criticisms and advices, I try to keep them in mind!

About the D major progression; would it matter if the chromatic bass line would not contain all the 12 notes (rising from D maj 6/3 to B min 6/4)? I'm not sure I could do that.

M

Hi M

Hi Matt,

This was the most difficult homework I've ever had! I'm not sure I've done everything right, but I hope that there aren't too many mistakes.

To answer to your question, I think it is easy to make suspensions on vii6/3 between I5/3 and I6/3, because their roots are second apart (their is no common note) so keeping any note of I in the next chord creates a suspension; and since vii is diminished, there is no need to worry about paralell perfect 5ths (?).

M

Matthaeus_hw_08.pdf

Matthaeus_hw_08.MUS

Hi M

Hi Matt,

I've never expected such a positive feedback - Thanks! :)

I've just taken a look at the harmonization tutorial and seemed very difficult to me, so I need a bit more time to understand that...

M

Hello Matt,

I've managed to read the whole lesson (4 or 5 times), and I must say your harmonization of the chorale is great and sounds like Bach! Although the harmonization of the minuet is unclear to me. Some notes are not harmonized (2nd note of bar 3 and bar 7), and there are paralell octaves, however between different instruments (S-T bar 1 paralell, T-B bar 2 contrary). Are these allowed by the classical style, so could I use them in my later work? (I'm not against parallells)

I have also problems with the homework. I've already started the harmonization (of the G maj h/w) by writing in the bass:

G | C | D | G || G | ? | A | D ||

I don't know what to do with the 6th measure. It have a raised leading note suggesting dominant harmony (leading to D major), while the scale istelf suggests tonic harmony (D C# B A) because C# is just a passing note. (?) I have no clue how to reach that new tonic.

Btw I've just realized that I have almost zero knowledge about instrumental music, so it may be a little harder for me to understand how it works, but I will do my best.

Thanks!

M

Hi M

Oh dear that's pretty embarrassing. Oh well - this is what happens when you don't check things properly! As for using parallels in general - the classical era composers were all actually very careful and avoided them wherever possible (the romantics were more laid back about it). However, as we'll see in the next lesson they did sometimes use DELIBERATE doubling in octaves. This only ever occurs in the bass line or melody (doubling an inner part at the octave would cause loads of problems for the voice leading).

Bar 6 is just a D major chord (how about a first inversion?) - however don't feel that you have to harmonise each bar one at a time - you can have more than one chord per bar!

Also (and this answers your other question) you don't usually need to harmonise the UPBEATS (technically known as anacruses). In choral and instrumental music, you'll often find that upbeats sound in a single voice, or just one or two rather than the whole texture. The reason for doing this is that the full force of the harmony comes on the main beats - that's why there are some 'unharmonised' notes in my Haydn minuet. In the G major exercise, for example, you could leave the triplet upbeats unharmonised, or just harmonise them with one voice (maybe in triplets too? - using two part counterpoint i.e. thirds and sixths - if that's too hard don't worry). Sounds like you've got the right idea though, all those chords should work - I'll give you a little advice about the last few bars - in bar 5 you can use the passing 6/4 for example on those two Ds.

from bar 5: (quavers: ) B A (6/4) (crotch: ) G | (dotted crotch: ) F# (quaver) E | (minim: ) A | D (quavers A D)...

Matt

Hi M

Hi M

Chromatic chords lesson and mozart analysis.pdf

Hello Matt,

I'm very busy now so I have only little time for composing. I'm posting the harmonization of the first minuet theme. Hope there aren't so many errors in it.

M

Matthaeus_hw_09a.pdf

Matthaeus_hw_09a.MUS

Hi M

Hello Matt,

Hope you are alright. I'm ready to continue the lesson, if you don't mind. I still have some problem understanding instrumental music: It seems to me that one chord is usually prolonged in time, often for a whole bar, so I have problem with avoiding parallels, especially when the melody runs through all the notes of the chord (root, 3rd, 5th). It's a bit different than a simple chord-by-chord choral music.

M

Hi M

Hello Matt,

I have less time than I have expected, so sorry about the delay. I'm posting the harmonization of the minuet theme "b.)". It's my second attempt, because the first one was full of parallels (I still have problem with parallels when the melody has many notes for one chord).

The second phrase starts with a "vi", I hope it's not a problem. I'm not sure about the next chord, I've tried to make a 7-6 here, when I sketched in the bass first.

M

Matthaeus_hw_09b.pdf

Matthaeus_hw_09b.MUS

Hi M

Thanks, Matt for the review! I don't like the 3rd bar, too. The bass here was A actually (dominant of D minor), but after realizing the parallel octave (c->a) I changed it to F. The F here sounds really awful, but no parallel at least. I don't know how Haydn could come up with such difficult melody... also don't know what to do with the 5th bar (syncopated notes)?

M

Matthaeus_hw_09b-bass.pdf

Matthaeus_hw_09b-bass.MUS

Hi M

mate bassline.pdf

Hi Matt,

I've read the instructions and I think I can do it now, but there are still some things which isn't really clear for me.

- In the tutorial, the 4th semi-quaver of bar 7 is B, while in the example the same note is A. It must be a typo, but I don't know which is the original?

- If the 7-6-7-6 chain is harmonized by 7/5/3 - 6/3 chords it will always result in hidden parallel 5ths (between Bass-5th and 7th-3rd). Are these acceptable? Or I should use other chords, or at least 9-8 suspensions (for eg. C in alto at the beginning of bar 5).

M