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"Anthem Assignment" D major chorale


Ian_Campbell

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https://soundcloud.com/ian-campbell-89/d-major-chorale-new-version
This is the first draft of a little composition assignment I had for a theory 2 class. I am providing audio with piano rendition and have it scored condensed just because it is more practical. I did not put the fermatas in the score but you will be able to tell where they are from listening to the audio with where it elongates at those points. I'm not really trying to emulate Bach but it would be nice to learn more about Bach chorale harmonization, and as many specific critiques and tips as possible would be good. There are a few things like parallel 5ths across a fermata, and parallel octaves in one place, that I already fixed. 

anthem assignment_0001.png

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I'm not an expert in this things, but some specific points sound odd to me.

For example in m. 11:  B - C# - D - G .... a bit dissonant.

Is it good to double two notes of a chord and omit the other one? m. 10  B-B-D#-D#

Some times the voices cross, which I think you can avoid it: m. 13 the tenor voice

The ending... Why that B - Bb - C#.... Also, if the style is looking at Bach... I wouldn't end in Bm7, but in Bm.

In general it sounds good to my ears, but if it's an exercise perhaps you can improve it.

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Tenor goes a bit high in some places and you force the bass to make a 7th and a 6th jump, which in this time period are considered a little bit extraneous. Now, they're okay, but the AP test would mark you down for that.
Measure 12 has a parallel 5ths in the 2nd beat. Fix that. 
Measure 13 has crossed voices between alto and tenor.
Measure 9 has parallel 5ths between soprano and tenor.
Measure 15 uses a cross beat voice which you can't do in this era either.
Measure 7 be careful about omitting the 5th with a suspension.

I might look again later with more time. I don't know what you meant by the fermata. Cheers!

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Monarcheon, in the audio I included you can hear where the fermatas are because they're longer but I didn't have them marked on the score. The parallel 5ths in the 3rd beat of measure 4 were a mistake I had added because the fermata break there made me not realize it. I'll show the new score and version now. Keep in mind the part I added is harmonically weirder in measure 12 and definitely not appropriate for a Bach thing, but my assignment is just very basic without any stylistic constraints beyond basic part writing rules. I would like your commentary on that addition because it is a prolongation I made up leading into an augmented 6th (german to french) chord. Measure 9 and 13 are my real issues. I changed around the parts. What is a cross beat voice? 

Luis, that is measure 6, not measure 10. What I did there is probably not at all baroque technique of any sort but the doubled leading tone is kind of taken care of by how the bass runs up to the 4th above it. The measure 11 one I like because it is a neapolitan 6th chord with a sus 4, which in that context is a sharp 4 (c# down to b). That one is definitely not characteristic of anything I've heard, yet it is a prepared suspension. In the end I extended a plagal cadence with a secondary dimished chord. You can hear in the Well Tempered Clavier for instance major keyed pieces that end with that flat 6th before the final tonic. I think it makes for a nice falling sigh kind of effect. Again, for all of this, it is not a Bach chorale, nor is it a 20th century pedagogical reduction of a Bach chorale style, I just wanted to go with the flow and still follow the big rules and keep it coherent in its own idiom.
Thank you all for your comments

anthem assignment fix attempt_0001.png

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