Lesson with CreationArtist

Lesson with Creation Artist

OK, first I need to know what sort of notation software you use. Oddly enough, I have no notation software of my own, just a MIDI sequencer. I can create small PDFs in Lilypond, or I might have to get Finale notepad.

So now I would like to ask you a few basic questions to understand what exactly you know about harmony, which I assume will be our initial area of focus. You will probably already know the answers to most of these, so don't bother to answer any really easy ones. I hope you're familiar with roman numerals to designate chords, like i, V, iv6, i64, III+6, etc....

1. Can you see a chord spread over both treble and bass clefs and rapidly know the intervals between any two notes?

2. Do you know the basics of voice leading between root position chords? 6 chords? (sorry, I call first inversion 6)

3. Do you know when a 6/4 (second inversion) chord is appropriate?

4. Name some chords you would place before a vi chord in major. Name some that would go after.

5. When would you double a chord's 3rd?

6. When would you use IV (major subdominant) in minor?

In all of these I'm referring to what is now usually called common practice harmony, as used from Bach and beyond. I'm assuming that this sort of standard harmony (and counterpoint) is more or less what you want to master. (Keep in mind that I myself am slightly more comfortable in the harmony of the early Baroque, which is my favorite music, so I might be learning some things about the 18th cent. and beyond with you. Also keep in mind that unfortunately I know almost nothing about Classical music and beyond. The harmonic knowledge, however, still applies all the way up to the early romantic period.)

I'm sorry if these questions are too basic, I just want to better understand where you're at. As soon as you reply I'll think of concepts to teach and exercises. Also, feel free to ask about counterpoint, general details of baroque style, and baroque forms.

1. I use Finale 2007a

2. I'm not familiar with all the roman numerals, just I-vii

1. No.

2. No.

3. No.

4. iii -> vi -> (predominants) ii/IV -> (dominants) V/vii* -> I/iii

5. When moving to the dominant?

6. Don't know.

I should get going with Piston's Harmony as we progress, too

One other thing I should have asked... do you play the piano?

Yes, for seven years

Do you like my arrangement of your fugue? I just uploaded a new one

Which midi editor do you use? It sounds better than GPO :dry:

OK, we will begin by discussing voicing. You might know all of this already. As soon as you finish this we will begin voice leading chords in four part harmony. Since you say you cannot fluently determine intervals on a piano staff, these exercises are very important. If you cannot find parallel fifths at a glance, you can't avoid them. We will mostly be working with 4-part keyboard harmony.

Chords

You probably know what a triad is: a harmony consisting of three notes, in this style, separated by thirds. So in a triad there is a root note, a third, and a fifth (which is two stacked thirds). In actual chorale style harmony, the root note is often repeated, giving you a chord of four notes. These four notes may be moved into any octave, so that the 3rd becomes a 10th, the 5th a 12th, the unison an octave or 15th. I hope you know all the names of the intervals (like unison, second, etc...).

Voicing

In chorale style harmony, the notes of the triad are arranged in a certain way to make the most balanced sound. Usually the whole chord is not very far outside of the treble or bass clefs' ranges.

To begin with, we will work with chords whose roots are in the bass, or as I call them, 5 or 5/3 chords. For now we will only use chords with a single third and fifth, and a doubled (repeated) root (usually in another octave).

Open the attached file and list out the intervals each note of each chord forms from the bass, from the bottom up. Ignore the notes without a chord for now. For example, the first chord is 5, 8, 3. You notice I wrote 3 instead of 10, because that note functions as the third. And it will be easier for all of us :whistling:. Try to be as fast and accurate as possible.

Now list the intervals between successive notes of those same chords, that is, the interval between each note and the next note above it. For the first chord, 5, 4, 3.

Now I will explain those chords. You probably know this too; I hope this isn't too basic. A balanced chord's notes are never separated from each other by more than an octave, except from bass to tenor. Thus from soprano to alto, and from alto to tenor there should be less than an octave. Tenor to bass, however, be more than or less than an octave.

Note that tenor to soprano can be over an octave. When it is, you have an open disposition. When tenor to soprano is less than an octave, you have a closed disposition.

Notice the difference of sound (listen to my example) between open and closed chords.

Now tell me whether each of my chords is open or closed, and if it follows all the rules.

Then, make your own chords on each of the roots I have written, without using any accidentals. Remember, 3rd, 5th, and doubled root. Make the first two closed and the last three open.

If this is way too basic, just tell me and we'll skip it all. If not, then you should follow it all exactly. Do not break any rules unless you have mastered them. So, for example, in 4 part counterpoint, upper voices might be separated by over an octave, but such an arrangement is usually very brief. There is no reason for there to be any mistakes in your answers (unless, like I said, this is too basic. Then we can skip all of this). You need to have fast interval identifying skills to write progressions and avoid parallels.

Voicing Examples and Exercises.MUS

Done

Ok, well, I would like for you to go back and edit some of those chords you arranged on the roots I posted, because for now I would like to work only with chords in root position with a doubled root. For example, your first chord is in first inversion, and your fourth chord has a doubled fifth. Also, I wanted you to notice that my last chord is unusually open (there is an 11th between soprano and alto) and thus not very well suited to chorale style harmony.

In general, feel free to experiment with 6th chords and unusual doublings or whatever else... but only if you have totally understood what we have done so far, and probably better separately from my lessons (although I can discuss any of these further if you want). After all, good music departs from traditional rules of spacing and doubling occasionally - but are you sure you truly understand all the possibilities within my restrictions?

Anyways, you seem to be more proficient than you believe at identifying lots of intervals. Since that will be very valuable, you should repeat the exact same exercise many times with Bach chorales or some other homorhythmic passages. Even if you don't understand the harmonies, you can name intervals.

I really hope I haven't offended you about Mozart. I definitely admire his music and plan on listening to more. And I would like to say again that these same chords and voice leading conventions apply all the way from Bach to Beethoven, Mozart included. The differences are in how they combined the chords, not the chords themselves.

OK, now its time for the next lesson.

Let's face it, voicing chords, studying their dispositions can hardly qualify as music. In this lesson, we will actually combine chords: now we will have motion.

For now we are not going to try to understand what the chords we use actually mean. Tomorrow we will study the functions that different chords have, which is an area that you seem to already have knowledge in. So, to begin with I would like for you to prepare a "progression chart" where you list each chord of a major scale (in roman numerals) and then list any chords likely to follow it. For example, as you probably know, the dominant chord V, often moves to the tonic chord I. In this chart, lets not worry about inversions, just the essential chords themselves. I guess you can format it something like this:

I: (list following chords here)

ii: ...

iii:

IV:

V: I, vi

vi:

vii*:

Those chords are the diatonic chords of a major key: they have no accidentals in C Major. I think you already know which of those chords are minor, major, or diminished (lets use uppercase, lowercase, and the star: I, vi, vii*). If not, I will discuss that a little tomorrow anyway. Tomorrow I will also introduce the minor mode.

Like I said, today I will not teach about that sort of "harmonic function." Today I will teach you how to connect different chords following the rules of traditional harmony; tomorrow I will teach you what chords to choose.

THE RULES

In these exercises you must follow what I have taught about chord spacing perfectly. I understand that yesterday you might have made some mistakes, but today you must totally understand spacing to move on to progressions.

The famous rules you have surely already heard of. Parallel fifths and parallel octaves are entirely forbidden for now. Please open the file named Examples and look at it alongside this lesson.

In the first bar, the outer voices form a fifth in the first chord, and then move to another fifth in the next chord. This is strictly prohibited, but if you follow my guidelines avoiding parallel fifths should not be hard.

In the next bar you see parallel octaves. The same goes for them. (The matter of doubling a whole melodic line in octaves like in orchestral music or the piano is something else entirely. In these cases those octaves are just a thickening of an existing part, not true harmony. I can discuss the difference further you want.)

Repeating the same octave or fifth in two chords, on the other hand, is entirely allowed. An example of this is in the third bar. (We will not worry about direct octaves and fifths for now.)

PROGRESSIONS

Remember that we are still only using chords in root position with a doubled root (and since they are in root position, the bass is the root). All of the spacing rules from yesterday should be perfectly followed.

When one chord moves to another, the most fundamental motion is that of the roots. Since we are only using root position chords, the fundamental motion is in the bass. Now I will list the smoothest ways to connect chords with any melodic interval in the bass.

UP BY A FIFTH

When the bass leaps up by a fifth, the two triads will have a note in common (remember a triad can have more than three notes, but the extras are doubles). For example, a C triad and a G triad share the note G in common. In a progression by ascending fifth in the bass, tie or repeat that common note in one upper voice, and move the other two upper voice notes down. See the fourth and fifth bars of my examples.

Another way to manage this progression moves all the upper voices in the same direction as the bass to the next nearest note of the next chord, not repeating or tying any notes (some notes will move by a second, some by a third). See the sixth bar. This version is weaker because all voices move in the same direction.

DOWN BY A FOURTH

When C moves up by a fifth, it goes to G. When if moves down by a fourth, it also goes to G. Though the bass melodies are different, the exact same harmonies are used and thus the same procedure as up by a fifth applies.

The difference is that now the second approach, where no voice is repeated or tied, is actually stronger because all of the voices are moving upwards, contrary to the bass. Bars 7 and 8 show this. Bars 9 and 10 mix down by fourth and up by fifth in both versions.

DOWN BY FIFTH, UP BY FOURTH

After you have learned all of the preceding progressions and have fused them to your very soul, these should be easy. Simply move the upper voices in the opposite direction of down by fourth and up by fifth. In this way, in the version where all upper voices move, they will move down. In the version where only two voices moved by step, they will now move up.

Bars 11 through 14 show all these possibilities. Bars 15 through 16 show a mix of all eight progression you can now handle. If followed correctly, these should not create parallel fifths.

DOWN or UP BY THIRD

In these cases two notes will be shared in the upper voices. For example, C mjaor and E minor share both E and G. Those notes should be tied or repeated in the upper voices. One note of the upper voice will move by step contrary (in the opposite direction) to the bass. See bars 17 and 18.

DOWN or UP BY SIXTH.

Same as with thirds, only that the one moving voice goes in the same direction as the bass.

DOWN OR UP BY SECOND

In this case the upper voices will all move contrary to the bass, some by third and some by step, since there are no common notes. Make sure the following chord is in root position with a doubled root! See bars 19 through 21.

Now you know how to move between any two chords in root position with root doubled. This is 80% of what you will ever learn and use with harmony, so make sure you know it perfectly. Know each one of these by heart. That will take lots of writing, and using them every day. Because of this I am posting lots and lots of exercises. They wont even be close to enough! These progressions MUST be learned.

Remember, only root position, root doubled. Always use proper spacing. For now, never use the vii* chord. Also, please save minor for tomorrow after the lesson about harmonic functions.

I will post exercises in a few minutes; please don't try any of these until then.

Progression Examples.MUS

Here are the exercises. I will post more later, as this is the essence of harmony.

Place properly voice-led chords on all the roots provided. Remember (sorry, I have to repeat this :toothygrin: ), only root position chords with doubled roots. Make sure that all of the spacing conventions are perfectly followed. For now use the formulas I have listed to connect chords.

Each exercise is separated by a repeat. Don't take the repeat seriously; it only separates independent exercises (you don't have to worry about connecting one exercise to the next, only worry about voice leading within each exercise).

This one is two pages long. To master this you should have dozens of pages of this sort of thing before long. For now, however, lets wait for writing your own bass lines until we discuss harmonic function tomorrow. Also remember to make the chart I asked for in my previous post.

Something I just remembered to discuss... Sometimes the doubled note can be a unison, which I think you understand. So, in this case, the bass can form a unison with the tenor. Also, small harmonic intervals are usually better higher up. So, the tenor to the bass can be a third, but only if they are relatively high. If the third is very low, you should probably use a tenth instead.

Progression Exercises.MUS

Here are some interval identification exercises. As you can see, voice leading is impossibly difficult until you can identify any interval at lightning speed.

Open the Finale file. The chords in it are not properly voice led and form no directed progressions. I randomly wrote chords, which is the easy part. The hard part is for you:

Format: List compound intervals as simple intervals (for example, 3 instead of 10). Do not specify if an interval is major or minor, but always specify if it is augmented or diminished.

1. List out all the intervals between each upper voice and the bass. The first chord, for example, is 8 3 5.

2. List out all the intervals between soprano and tenor.

Interval Exercises.MUS

Table of Usual Root Progressions

I is followed by IV or V, sometimes VI, less often II or III.

II is followed by V, sometimes IV or VI, less often I or III.

III is followed by VI, sometimes IV, less often I, II, or V.

IV is followed by V, sometimes I or II, less often III or VI.

V is followed by I, sometimes IV or VI, less often II or III.

VI is followed by II or V, sometimes III, less often I.

VII is followed by II or III, sometimes VI, less often II, IV, or V.

The progression exercise's answers have been attached.

I also finished the interval identification, but I won't bother to post them, since they're pretty straightforward.

(The numbers involved with harmony can get very confusing. I will refer to chords by roman numerals, scale degrees by their names listed below, and intervals with normal numbers. So the mediant is the third degree of the scale, III is the chord on that root, and a 3rd is an interval - either the melodic leap of a 3rd or a note a 3rd or 10th etc... from the bass.)

HARMONIC PROGRESSION

As you already know, harmony is formed from the combination of multiple pitches sounding at the same time. The harmonic progression is what I will call the succession of various harmonies.

I understand that you are learning progressions from Piston as well. However, my approach will probably be different from Piston's in many ways. Harmony has never been a fixed phenomenon. In the earliest modal music, the harmonies used were whatever the many lines of counterpoint (simultaneous melodies) combined to form. To those early (and very skilled) composers, there was no notion of this harmony moving to that harmony, but rather multiple lines bound together by consonance.

In the later common practice era, some harmonic relations were recognized in their own right; that is, musicians realized that harmonies could take on a meaning of their own outside of any counterpoint. This paved the way for the new development of homophony. Some contrapuntal conventions, however, were kept in most music, like the avoidance of parallel fifths and octaves.

Finally, the impressionists (Debussy, etc...) realized that harmony itself could be freed from rules about parallels and counterpoint (though a contrapuntal element is to be found in all music) and used for its own special color.

For now we are concerned with the middle period described above. Note that this is not some sort of evolution from a "medieval" self-inhibition to modern freedom. Rather, each of these periods valued different qualities in music and excellent composers have put all of their energies into making the best music of all periods, from the medieval to the 20th century.

Composers of the common practice area followed no specific rules when writing chord progressions, but there were certain tendencies often followed. Below I will attempt to summarize my views about progressions.

V and I

You probably have a good knowledge about cadences. They are the driving force of tonal music. Their basic structure involves a falling fifth in the bass (or rising fourth) (at least for now, since we are only using root position chords), and a leading tone which rises by semitone to the tonic. In case you do not know yet, the scale degrees are named like this:

Tonic (in C Maj, C)

Supertonic (in CMaj, D)

Mediant (in CMaj, E)

Subdominant (in CMaj, F)

Dominant (in CMaj, G)

Submediant (in Spanish, oddly enough, they call it the Superdominant) (in CMaj, A)

Subtonic (if a whole step from the tonic) (in Cmin, Bb)

Leading tone (if a half step from the tonic) (in Cmaj or Cmin, B)

As you can see, a normal major scale always has a natural leading tone a minor second beneath the tonic. In this lesson we are still only considering the major mode.

Cadences like the V - I progression are the punctuation of music, ending each thought or phrase. For a cadence to be conclusive, leading tone must ascend to the tonic note. Open my cadence examples file.

The cadence of measure one is not very satisfying because the leading tone in the tenor does not ascend to the tonic.

The cadence of measure two is much more satisfying beacuse the leading tone ascends to the tonic. When the tonic note of I ends up in the highest voice, a cadence is at its most final sounding and is called a perfect authentic cadence (PAC). Most tonal pieces end with a PAC like the one in measure three.

Another way to keep the tonic note in the uppermost voice of the I chord is to descend from the supertonic. In this PAC, the root of the I chord is usually tripled, since the bass moves to the tonic, the leading tone should move to the tonic, and the supertonic moves to the tonic. When writing a chord with tripled root, usually the 5th is omitted and the 3rd is used instead. Cadences with supertonic-tonic in the soprano are in measures four through six. In the cadence of measure four, for example, the tenor moves down a 3rd to fill in the 3rd of the I chord with tripled root.

Just as the leading tone "wants" to ascend to the tonic, the supertonic "wants" to descend to the tonic. So, even if the leading tone is in the upper voice, a composer might move the supertonic of the V chord down to the tonic of an I chord with tripled root.

If the 3rd is omitted in an I chord, like in measure six, a very hollow sound is produced by the "empty" fifth. For now we will carefully avoid any chord missing its third.

I will post exercises involving cadences very soon. The next few lessons will explain the functions of all the chords - ii, IV, etc...

Cadence Examples.MUS

Exercises

Remember, for now only root position chords.

However, you can now triple the root of the I chord at cadences! For now make sure the remaining chord member is the chord's 3rd, not its 5.

Like always, I have separated exercises by repeat bars.

For measures 1-4, please voice lead the V chord to an I chord. Decide whether or not a chord with tripled root is appropriate.

In measure 5, please write a V - I progression that does not break any conventions, yet is not final sounding. In actual music, many V - I progressions are not cadences. In some styles it is very appropriate to have long passages of only I - V - I - V - I, without any marked cadential feeling till the end. The exact voicing of the chords and above all your ear will tell you if a V - I progression is a cadence or not.

In the rest of the exercises voice lead all the chords, ending each with a Perfect Authentic Cadence, or PAC. You will have to arrange the progressions so that the supertonic or the leading tone will be in the upper voice of the V chord towards the end. In these exercises a tripled root might be appropriate in the final chords.

Something about tying common notes:

For now, lets never tie a shorter note to a longer note, or tie a note when that would cause a 3rdless chord to sound. Of course, on your own, you should experiment with both tying and rearticulating notes, carefully noticing the effects each approach gives.

Cadence Exercises.MUS

As I finish the exercises, I think it's best if we work following the theory syllabus from The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (which is giving an exam in the Spring that I'm taking) from this link:

Graded Music Exams from the Associated Board : ABRSM.org - Exams

Here is the suspension example I showed you earlier, followed by more or less the same thing in minor.

Suspension Example.MUS

Finished

You might have missed some key concepts in the last lesson. I understand that all the numbers can get confusing, but it is important that you try to understand all of the information. These lessons are very condensed, so every word counts.

Attached are the three basic voice leading situations I want you to master. There are many more ways to handle cadences, but for now we are sticking to these formulas that end with the tonic in the top voice. [Certainly the mediant or the dominant notes can be in the upper voice of an I chord too. However, classical theorists classify cadences with the tonic in the top voice as the most "final," the most conclusive. Renaissance composers, however, would not hesitate to end with the mediant in the top voice, especially if the I chord were major. And some composers would end with the dominant in the top voice of I for special effect, like the soprano dominant pedal point that ends Frescobaldi's Cento Partite.]

Now to the errors: (I am numbering each repeat section)

1. Good.

2. I wanted to see if you knew how to lead the supertonic downwards in the upper voice. Your progression is very good but I am teaching something else here, and I said so in the instructions.

3. Good.

4. Good. [You should, however, learn to occasionally move the supertonic downwards even if it is in an inner voice.]

5. Wrong like #2.

6. Great, if the b natural is a typo. Otherwise, you have discovered secondary dominants! [We'll get to them eventually.]

7. Listen to this one a few times and tell me why it is wrong.

8. Great.

9. Great.

10. Great.

11. Not good. You started out with a doubled third, and it messed up the following chords. And you finally figured out how to move the supertonic note downwards, but with parallel octaves and a thirdless V :P.

I would like for you to correct all these errors. Feel free to discuss the last lesson with me in closer detail, since it is a lot to swallow. Don't be discouraged, you are progressing very quickly; I expect more than a few errors along the way.

Also, about the error in repeat 11: I would like for you to reread my last lesson and explain why omitting the third of a chord is particularly dangerous with the V chord.

Cadences you must Master.MUS

For future reference I am posting that tiny augmented sixth example that I showed you.

Augmented sixth chords are very advanced at this stage, so we will "officially" get to them later.

Augmented Sixths.MUS

Here are the corrections.

I'll get to work on the next lessons and exercises soon... sorry I'm late with these corrections.

Cadence Corrections.MUS

Can we continue? What should we do now? We left off at basic cadences which I now feel comfortable with. or you can make some more cadence exercises for me to try first .. actually your previous post ^ if you could just go back to that and annotate each example pointing out why you chose to certain things like having unisons and stuff.. if you did that to your previous post everything would become clear and we could just move on from there. next we'd do inversions?

i made this midi to practice progressions and voicing. how does it look? i added some passing tones.. is that alright?

cad.MID

My life has been very busy lately, but I think we can and should move forward as soon as possible. Unfortunately I do not think I will be able to post any new teaching until the weekend. I will try, however, to post an exercise tonight.

Another way to keep the tonic note in the uppermost voice of the I chord is to descend from the supertonic. In this PAC, the root of the I chord is usually tripled, since the bass moves to the tonic, the leading tone should move to the tonic, and the supertonic moves to the tonic. When writing a chord with tripled root, usually the 5th is omitted and the 3rd is used instead. Cadences with supertonic-tonic in the soprano are in measures four through six. In the cadence of measure four, for example, the tenor moves down a 3rd to fill in the 3rd of the I chord with tripled root.

I think that this point here led to your confusion about unisons. I think I should explain the role of unisons in this sort of chorale exercise. The role of unisons in real music is very similar too.

UNISONS

The unison is of course the smallest interval, and some authors even deny that it is an interval at all. Of course it doesn't matter at all what we call it. In exercises like these we seldom come across

unisons yet because we have restricted ourselves to root position chords with a doubled root. Thus the tenor and bass are the only voices that can meet in unison so far (For example, if the tenor and alto were in unison, the 3rd or 5th would be doubled). You should never hesitate to use this unison between the tenor and the bass as long as you are following all my guidelines concerning disposition (spacing) and doubling. Look at bar one and bar two of the UnisonExamples file. This sort of unison is always fine.

In my last lesson on cadences, however, I introduced a common cadential formula with a tripled root. A full V chord with doubled root can move to an I chord with tripled root; see bar three. The bass of the V leaps up a fourth or down a fifth, the 3rd (leading tone) and 5th (supertonic) of the V chord move up and down a step, respectively, to the root (tonic) of the I chord. Now extra doubled root of the V chord could be tied into the next chord like in bar three; if you listen carefully, however, the I chord sounds awkward and empty to classical ears because it is missing the 3rd. Bar four presents our solution: the 5th of the V chord can leap down by a third to the 3rd (mediant) of the I chord.

This tripled root often includes two notes in unison like bars five and six. Three notes in unison are also possible, though less appropriate like in bar seven.

-----

Also lets not forget that the I chord can also be approached with a normal doubling when the leading tone is in the soprano. In this situation we are less bothered by the supertonic moving upwards like in bar eight.

-----

I hope that all this clears up the confusion from the last lesson. All the numbers and chords and scale degrees are easy to confuse, but if you read very carefully it should eventually make sense. Since this is very compressed teaching, every sentence I write is very important, so be sure to try them out on paper or Finale as you read. Of course we should not loose sight of the truth, that the exact handling of unisons is just a minor detail. The bigger picture will hopefully emerge once I teach the minor mode and inversions in the next few lessons. Exercises will be coming later today.

Also I hope that you continue to keep in mind that all these "rules" are relative. In actual music anything is possible and appropriate in the right circumstances. Following rules strictly in exercises, however, is excellent training.

UnisonExamples.MUS

Could we move on, I'm excited to finish minor and inversions so we can start studying from scores (maybe counterpoint with Renaissance music or by looking at Bach)