Does This Chorale Break Too Many Music Rules?

I must admit that I dropped out of advanced harmony early on because I prefer to do what I think sounds best. :blush: But then the rules do matter, so I am wondering if I have broken too many of them here. (In this MIDI file I have flute for the sopranos, trumpet for the altos, horn for the tenors, and tuba for the bass, but it is meant for a capella choir.)

J_Dunlap_choral.mid

One more thing I am wondering about is if the sopranos in an amateur choir (like an ordinary church choir) can sing up to B-flat above the treble clef, and the basses to F just below the bass clef. I am thinking I might need to divide the sopranos into two parts just where the high notes are--is that the best way to do things?

It's nice. There are a few things, though (I'm on my way to work, so I'm just going to give you an example or two of things that "break rules").

1. To answer your last question, sopranos in professional choruses don't have too much trouble with high B-flat (School choirs, it's a different story). However, you already appear to have split the soprano part in several places - which in strict chorale writing ain't kosher, by the way - so perhaps it's best to give an ossia for those singers that don't have those notes.

2. Parellel fifths in the very first measure between Tenor and Bass, beat 3 to beat 4 - Tenor descends from G to F, Bass descends from C to B-flat. This is illegal in chorale writing, and as your theory teacher would have told you if you'd stuck around ( :) ), they're inadvisable in most other instances where traditional harmony is in use - such as in this piece. There is a section later on where you have two parts doubling at the octave for half of the measure - that's parallel octaves - not permitted in chorale writing.

3. Having parts sit out isn't permitted in chorale writing. Everybody sings everything. Which brings me to...

4. This isn't really a chorale, though it's a nice piece and might work chorally, depending on what you do with your text. There are too many moving parts, parts sit out, parts split into multiple parts. A chorale should sound just like an old fashioned hymn straight out of a hymnal at church. Check out our Chorale Challenge, elsewhere in the Advice and Techniques section.

Thanks for your help, JLG! Somehow I didn't notice the paralell fifths :P--I knew those were not permitted. I think I will take out most of the rests, in keeping with choral tradition--that wouldn't be too difficult. I guess the moving parts is where I personally differ from chorale writing; I insist on those. :P

I really like this piece, it sounds interesting. :P

In my ears, it sounds more like a piece in Renaicansse style, with more rhytmical challenge and less harmonical coherence than baroque pieces.

I doubt if the parallels are then still illegal, by the way?

One thing which I found strange was that it seemed like there was one measure too much on the end of each section, but maybe I'm mistaking... :P

I doubt if the parallels are then still illegal, by the way?

Actually, with occasional exceptions, Renaissance composers usually followed the rules even more strictly than Baroque composers.

Medieval composers were still experimenting with music theory, and there are aberrations to be found in Medieval music (such as illegal parallel motion). Over time, the figured out which voicings and progressions worked best, and as a result of their discoveries, during the 14th and 15th Centuries music theory became increasingly codified. By the 16th Century, it was rigid. Composers have been eroding that rigidity ever since, but it remains that even in this day and age, if you're using relatively traditional harmonies, illegal parallel motion usually doesn't sound good...it often sounds amateurish, when a simple change of voicing would cure the problem.

You know what they say.... You gotta know the rules in order to break the rules.

;) wonderful piece! great feeling and long bredth, ever flowing, never boring, very uplifting mood! i am not an expert, but i guess that the only problem for an actual performance is the splitting of the voices in some places, but seeing the score i suppose that that can be easily fixed with very slight adaptations and redistribution os some minimal parts' fragments. loved, congrats!

Medieval composers were still experimenting with music theory, and there are aberrations to be found in Medieval music (such as illegal parallel motion).

As it was explained in my Music History class, most medieval vocal music was derived from chant. Organum, the first case of vocal harmonics in a western music tradition, used heavy parallel 4ths and 5ths - it was not illegal - in fact, it was considered better. The change occurred around the time of the 100 Years War - England had a huge presence in mainland Europe, and it was English chant and organum that used our modern concept of consonance - 3rds and 6ths, intervals derived from the Anglo-Celtic music of Scotland and Wales. Music by John Dunstable, with its use of these intervals, made its way to France, where it was picked up by composers such as DuFay and Josquin de Prez, and there disseminated across the continent.

However, the idea of "voice leading" did not come into being until after the Council of Trent, with the Counter-Reformation. The idea of secularism entering the church through polyphony scared some, and so rules were set down, regulating music. A sung mass of the time had to have no secular canti firmi, and a text that was clear enough to hear the words. Enter Giovanni Pierluigi di Palestrina, who wrote a total of 104 counter-reformed masses, using English consonances in textures that allowed the text to be clearly heard in all voices: a concept known as "voice leading."

:whistling:

I can give an overview by the seat of my pants, but that's the kind of detail you get from going to Oberlin, folks!

Thanks for that, Christopher. Ya learn something every day.

maybe some of the only advice I would give is to listen to all the others before and perhaps chill on the tempo. It seems very highly contrapuntal (I dunno I don't have finale in my room). It sounds very dance-like and happy and I can easily here a small vocal ensemble with a lute player. It reminds me of some of the old English Carols...I liked it though for its sound and forward motion.