Lesson with CreationArtist

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.

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...

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.

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.

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 .

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.

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.

Suspensions Example