![]() When writing in SATB “Chorale” Style, you should avoid exceeding these ranges. The Four Voices: Soprano (S), Alto (A), Tenor (T), Bass (B)Įach voice (part) is considered as an independent musical line, having an independent range defined by an upper note and a lower note. The only note value we will use will use at first will be the whole note. The challenge is to create or realize musical phrases in the four parts that are both harmonically coherent and logical within the key in which the phrase is written, and are melodically coherent and satisfying through a process and concept we call voice leading.Īs with our first exercises in counterpoint, and to keep things simple and focused on only a few elements at a time, our beginning exercises in four-part harmony will not be concerned with rhythm and, as such, we will not worry about a time signature or any type of meter. We will also consider how chords move and connect to one another, forming a harmonic progression (also known as a chord progression) and defining a complete musical idea known as a phrase. The four parts are labeled by their range, from highest to lowest: Soprano (S), Alto (A), Tenor (T), and Bass (B). These four parts will be referred to as “ voices”, and we will first work within in a format known as “ chorale” or SATB style. In four (4) part writing we think vertically, in the domain of harmony, voicing chords into four distinct parts. These exercises are not intended to be efforts at great original composition but are rather designed to develop skills and hone a sense of form, control, and craft, furthering knowledge, understanding, and musicianship. Similarly, engaging in activities such as counterpoint or harmony exercises, even in the most dogmatic of approach as sometimes given here, are to the musician, composer, and songwriter as to the athlete engaging in daily gym work. Any pro basketball player spends countless hours in the gym working with weights, engaging in stretches and sustained aerobic exercise, etc., all of which we don’t see directly on the court but is manifest in the ability of the athlete to perform at a high level during a game. However, Bird worked hard at his craft for hours on end and built up his body with daily rigourous exercise. In fact, Bird was, by nearly every physical metric except for his height (he was 6′ 10″) a gangly, awkward and rather unsuited person for the game of basketball as compared to many other (for example, peers like the great Ervin “Magic” Johnson who was far more physically gifted). However, Bird didn’t become an NBA legend simply by being born with great basketball skills. Larry Bird, for example, is one of the greatest basketball players of all time. I often use analogies from the world of sport. ![]() However, and what is an important challenge, one should strive to make them as musical as possible within the limited guidelines and resources provided.Īs with counterpoint, one might ask why we engage actively in something as strict and even as antiquated in some respects as four part harmony in SATB chorale style? The answer to such a question is similar to the answer given for why we engage in strict counterpoint exercises: These are directed studies in skill and knowledge building. Thus, these exercises in and of themselves are not intended to produce anything close to finished songs or well-constructed compositions. These exercises are analogous to lifting weights as part of athletic training, or the study of calculus as part of training in engineering, etc. ![]() As with our study of counterpoint, the study of harmony in four part SATB chorale style is not designed to create good music but rather develop skills and reenforce basic musical concepts through active learning and creation, as well as to serve as a foundation upon which to build further knowledge. ![]() The voices, while sounding a complete chord, are also to be considered as independent lines, much like we learned in our study of counterpoint, and the process of moving the voices from one chord to the next is called voice leading.There are two different types of spacing: ( closed and open).Good spacing helps to insure balance and homogenous blending of the harmony.Voicing is the process of taking a given chord and assigning/arranging the chord tones to each of the four voices (parts).Basic guidelines for both the spacing and voicing of chords.This introductory chapter builds upon what we learned in species counterpoint (chapters covered in the section on Modal Counterpoint).Four-Part Harmony is the study and application of tonality through harmonic progressions in four voices (parts). ![]()
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