Harmonized review

Please check the correctness of the harmony in the image and are the functions and cadence correct? Is there an error? Can we call the cadence plagal? If there is a problem with this harmony, please write🫡 

14 minutes ago, Kian said:

Please check the correctness of the harmony in the image and are the functions and cadence correct? Is there an error? Can we call the cadence plagal? If there is a problem with this harmony, please write🫡 

Hi @Kian,

Welcome to the forum!

On the exercise, there’s a parallel 5th in b.1 for alto and tenor. The B natural in b.2 bass should go up to C instead of downward to G. Also be careful of the usage of second inversion chords. Mainly the 6 4 chords are for cadential, passing or neighbouring, but except the V 64 chords are for in b.3 all the other second inversion chords aren’t used properly, esp. the end! At least in SaTB setting the cadence would end on a second inversion chords!

Thx for joining us!

Henry

Is this homework? Or just self-study? Hopefully not the former lol

Assuming you're studying both voice-leading and harmony, there are a lot of problems, but the foundations are there! All of your chords have all the chord tones present, which is a great start and, for the most part, you correctly identified your non-chord tones. 

Measure 1: 
a. Get in the habit of putting serif lines on all of your major Roman numerals. Most teachers will mark you down if they just see a v because they can't tell if it's major or minor.
b. No retrogressions: in the first measure, your V (dominant) chord goes to ii˚6 (predominant), which isn't allowed. I've attached a chord chart for you.
c. @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu is right. Leading tones in the outer voices must resolve up to the tonic in the next chord.
d. This bar has five beats in it, despite the 4/4 meter.
e. And, yes, Henry's also right that your neighbor tone creates a parallel fifth against the alto.

Measure 2:
a. Your first V6 chord's tenor moves down to the seventh (F) as a passing tone, and sevenths must ALWAYS resolve down, so it should go to E-flat in the next chord, which it doesn't.
b. Same issue with leading tones in the outer voices, but this time in the bass. The B-natural should move up to C, which fixes the issue @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu mentioned about avoiding 6/4 chords unless they're serving one of the four functions he mentioned.
c. The tenor is only three beats long. 

Measure 3:
a. Bit of a large leap from G to C in the soprano, but this isn't a huge deal. Technically doesn't break any rules, except we want to see it resolve in the opposite direction of the leap.
b. The first 6/4 chord here isn't passing, neighboring, pedal, or cadential. If your 6/4 chord requires a leap either in or out, chances are it's not correct, unless it's cadential.
c. The second 6/4 chord here is technically passing, but wrong to be coming out of another 6/4 chord.
d. No minor v's (yes, minor v's exist, but students are taught to avoid them). If you did make the B-flat a B-natural, you still have a problem because the alto has to leap by an augmented or diminished interval, which is not allowed.

Measure 4:
a. I think you're misunderstanding what a plagal cadence is: the piece should still end on i, but approached by iv, not ending on iv. Plagal cadences aren't really a thing anyways... long story, but they're more often extensions to previous cadences. I would stick to HCs, PACs, and IACs, unless you're explicitly trying to work with plagal motion.
b. End on a root-position chord, not a 6/4. 
c. The last two beats of this bar have too big of a space between the tenor and alto. Voices should be no more than an octave apart from each other, except for the bass relative to the tenor. 

There's a reason why students HATE learning this stuff, because it feels arbitrary, and it is. Useful in some cases, for sure, but very arbitrary. You should be proud that you're trying to learn a very niche and difficult thing. Keep at it!

First of all, thank you very much for your analysis. Your review was very comprehensive and meticulous, and I learned a lot from it. It was extremely helpful, and I am very grateful.

Could you please explain why, in measure three, the second chord is technically a passing chord but is considered incorrect?

Why are students taught to avoid the minor V chord? And in measure three, shouldn’t V necessarily include a B natural? If it has a flat, is that considered wrong?

Also, I didn’t quite understand your comment about the alto leap. Did you mean an augmented or diminished leap that you said is forbidden?

I have one more question: don’t we have a half plagal cadence, similar to a half authentic cadence that ends on IV? Is it incorrect if a phrase ends on IV? Why must cadences resolve to a tonic? And why is the second inversion of the chord considered wrong? Could you please explain these points in detail?

18 hours ago, Monarcheon said:

Is this homework? Or just self-study? Hopefully not the former lol

Assuming you're studying both voice-leading and harmony, there are a lot of problems, but the foundations are there! All of your chords have all the chord tones present, which is a great start and, for the most part, you correctly identified your non-chord tones. 

Measure 1: 
a. Get in the habit of putting serif lines on all of your major Roman numerals. Most teachers will mark you down if they just see a v because they can't tell if it's major or minor.
b. No retrogressions: in the first measure, your V (dominant) chord goes to ii˚6 (predominant), which isn't allowed. I've attached a chord chart for you.
c. @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu is right. Leading tones in the outer voices must resolve up to the tonic in the next chord.
d. This bar has five beats in it, despite the 4/4 meter.
e. And, yes, Henry's also right that your neighbor tone creates a parallel fifth against the alto.

Measure 2:
a. Your first V6 chord's tenor moves down to the seventh (F) as a passing tone, and sevenths must ALWAYS resolve down, so it should go to E-flat in the next chord, which it doesn't.
b. Same issue with leading tones in the outer voices, but this time in the bass. The B-natural should move up to C, which fixes the issue @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu mentioned about avoiding 6/4 chords unless they're serving one of the four functions he mentioned.
c. The tenor is only three beats long. 

Measure 3:
a. Bit of a large leap from G to C in the soprano, but this isn't a huge deal. Technically doesn't break any rules, except we want to see it resolve in the opposite direction of the leap.
b. The first 6/4 chord here isn't passing, neighboring, pedal, or cadential. If your 6/4 chord requires a leap either in or out, chances are it's not correct, unless it's cadential.
c. The second 6/4 chord here is technically passing, but wrong to be coming out of another 6/4 chord.
d. No minor v's (yes, minor v's exist, but students are taught to avoid them). If you did make the B-flat a B-natural, you still have a problem because the alto has to leap by an augmented or diminished interval, which is not allowed.

Measure 4:
a. I think you're misunderstanding what a plagal cadence is: the piece should still end on i, but approached by iv, not ending on iv. Plagal cadences aren't really a thing anyways... long story, but they're more often extensions to previous cadences. I would stick to HCs, PACs, and IACs, unless you're explicitly trying to work with plagal motion.
b. End on a root-position chord, not a 6/4. 
c. The last two beats of this bar have too big of a space between the tenor and alto. Voices should be no more than an octave apart from each other, except for the bass relative to the tenor. 

There's a reason why students HATE learning this stuff, because it feels arbitrary, and it is. Useful in some cases, for sure, but very arbitrary. You should be proud that you're trying to learn a very niche and difficult thing. Keep at it!

 

First of all, thank you very much for your analysis. Your review was very comprehensive and meticulous, and I learned a lot from it. It was extremely helpful, and I am very grateful.

Could you please explain why, in measure three, the second chord is technically a passing chord but is considered incorrect?

Why are students taught to avoid the minor V chord? And in measure three, shouldn’t V necessarily include a B natural? If it has a flat, is that considered wrong?

Also, I didn’t quite understand your comment about the alto leap. Did you mean an augmented or diminished leap that you said is forbidden?

I have one more question: don’t we have a half plagal cadence, similar to a half authentic cadence that ends on IV? Is it incorrect if a phrase ends on IV? Why must cadences resolve to a tonic? And why is the second inversion of the chord considered wrong? Could you please explain these points in detail?

4 hours ago, Kian said:

Could you please explain why, in measure three, the second chord is technically a passing chord but is considered incorrect?

Because it's not a passing chord. The type of 6/4 record refers to what the bass is doing. In this case, the E in the bass isn't a "passing" tone (i.e., it's not approached by step and left by step in the same direction), so it isn't a passing 6/4 chord. Now, the third chord in m. 3 is technically a correct passing chord, but odd because it's minor (although minor v's aren't uncommon passing chords) and the aforementioned poor voice spacing. 

4 hours ago, Kian said:

Why are students taught to avoid the minor V chord? And in measure three, shouldn’t V necessarily include a B natural? If it has a flat, is that considered wrong?

Minor v chords definitely exist, but—in America, at least—you're just taught to always raise the leading tone in minor unless otherwise marked through figured bass. V would indeed have a B-natural, but your use of the minor v, at least where I teach, in and of itself would be suspect.

4 hours ago, Kian said:

Also, I didn’t quite understand your comment about the alto leap. Did you mean an augmented or diminished leap that you said is forbidden?

Any diminished or augmented interval in the upper voices is forbidden (unless extremely niche circumstances I won't cover here). If you did make the alto a B-natural in m. 3, it would become an augmented fifth, which is augmented, so it's not permitted.

5 hours ago, Kian said:

don’t we have a half plagal cadence, similar to a half authentic cadence that ends on IV? Is it incorrect if a phrase ends on IV?

I mean, I'm sure there's music that ends in IV like some sort of plagal half cadence, but for harmony exercises, we really only deal with Half Cadences, Perfect Authentic Cadences, and Imperfect Authentic Cadences, with plagal extensions and deceptive cadences as ways to lengthen a progression, not end one. Ending a phrase in IV is really odd because it's functioning as predominant, which implies there should be a dominant somewhere in there.

5 hours ago, Kian said:

Why must cadences resolve to a tonic?

Note your wording. Authentic cadences resolve to tonic. Half cadences merely end on the dominant. Most phrases and pieces end on tonic because they "feel" resolved.

4 hours ago, Kian said:

And why is the second inversion of the chord considered wrong?

I'm not explaining it in detail here, but 6/4 chords were considered the most unstable because of a remnant from Renaissance-style practice where creating a fourth between the lowest sounding note and any upper voice was a huge problem. So we only use passing, neighbor, pedal, and cadential 6/4s because 6/4 chords are dissonances and need to be treated as such. The fact that you have two 6/4 chords in a row in m. 3 is wrong because you have two dissonant chords in a row, prevents proper resolution. 

To be clear, all of this is only true in terms of doing exercises. Exceptions in the repertoire exist all the time. 

I was truly impressed by your depth of knowledge and clarity of explanation.

I would be deeply honored and genuinely grateful if I could stay in touch with you or have the opportunity to take lessons and learn from you directly.

Your guidance would mean a great deal to me, and I’m very eager to learn under your instruction.

With sincere respect and appreciation,

Kian Mahdian

1 hour ago, Monarcheon said:

Because it's not a passing chord. The type of 6/4 record refers to what the bass is doing. In this case, the E in the bass isn't a "passing" tone (i.e., it's not approached by step and left by step in the same direction), so it isn't a passing 6/4 chord. Now, the third chord in m. 3 is technically a correct passing chord, but odd because it's minor (although minor v's aren't uncommon passing chords) and the aforementioned poor voice spacing. 

Minor v chords definitely exist, but—in America, at least—you're just taught to always raise the leading tone in minor unless otherwise marked through figured bass. V would indeed have a B-natural, but your use of the minor v, at least where I teach, in and of itself would be suspect.

Any diminished or augmented interval in the upper voices is forbidden (unless extremely niche circumstances I won't cover here). If you did make the alto a B-natural in m. 3, it would become an augmented fifth, which is augmented, so it's not permitted.

I mean, I'm sure there's music that ends in IV like some sort of plagal half cadence, but for harmony exercises, we really only deal with Half Cadences, Perfect Authentic Cadences, and Imperfect Authentic Cadences, with plagal extensions and deceptive cadences as ways to lengthen a progression, not end one. Ending a phrase in IV is really odd because it's functioning as predominant, which implies there should be a dominant somewhere in there.

Note your wording. Authentic cadences resolve to tonic. Half cadences merely end on the dominant. Most phrases and pieces end on tonic because they "feel" resolved.

I'm not explaining it in detail here, but 6/4 chords were considered the most unstable because of a remnant from Renaissance-style practice where creating a fourth between the lowest sounding note and any upper voice was a huge problem. So we only use passing, neighbor, pedal, and cadential 6/4s because 6/4 chords are dissonances and need to be treated as such. The fact that you have two 6/4 chords in a row in m. 3 is wrong because you have two dissonant chords in a row, prevents proper resolution. 

To be clear, all of this is only true in terms of doing exercises. Exceptions in the repertoire exist all the time. 

 

I was truly impressed by your depth of knowledge and clarity of explanation.

I would be deeply honored and genuinely grateful if I could stay in touch with you or have the opportunity to take lessons and learn from you directly.

Your guidance would mean a great deal to me, and I’m very eager to learn under your instruction.

With sincere respect and appreciation,

Kian Mahdian