Aldwell Harmony And Voice Leading Pdf
ClassicalHarmonyThe ‘unit 9’ of this lesson’s heading refers to a chapter inthe widely acclaimedHarmony and Voice Leading, a univer-sity-level textbook by EdwardAldwell and Carl Schachter. The chapter deals with chords that lead to thedominant – IV, ii and ii6 – while continuing to use the I, I6, V, V7, V6,V6/5, V4/3, V4/2 and vii6 chords of previous chapters.I had asked Gustave to compose a number of short passages thatwould explore and illustrate the chord usage and voice-leading describedin the chapter. Unit 9, Preliminary Exercisestraces the growth in Gustave’s technique, as he worked his way through thecomplexities of this aspect of musical composition. Good work, Gustave. The only comment I have is that you can achievea more ‘contrapuntal’ bass line by using a V6/5, vii6, or V4/3 here,instead of the root position V7. Such a change would yield a smootherbass line, and save the power of your root position V7 for the cadence.The soprano’s 4th degree could easily be harmonized via the vii6, whichas you know contains the 7th, 2nd and 4th degrees.
- Harmony And Voice Leading 5th Edition Pdf
- Aldwell Harmony And Voice Leading Pdf 2017
- Aldwell Harmony And Voice Leading Pdf Online
Taking your startingvoicing, I would write:. as in:. However, I think the best harmonization would be via aV4/3:. See what I mean?.Are you implying that, whenever possible, V7 - orinversions of V7 - are better choices than vii for expanding I?Not necessarily – they are all good. I personally like the fullersound of V4/3 than vii6, but so much depends on context: there are timeswhen the (relatively) weaker sound of the vii6 is better – eg, so as tobe less obtrusive.
At other times, one wants the more clearly “dominant”function of the V4/3 (or other inversions of V7). Unit 9, Preliminary Exercises, Ex. Your use of V4/3 is perfect, and your use of vii6 is pretty good too.For the vii6, however, I would rather see the alto sing (from thebeginning): E ↓ D ↑ E than have her skip down to the B, then up to the Eagain. There is a problem of too large an interval between the alto andsoprano when the alto sings the B, but this isn’t the main reason whyI’d change it – I think it’s simply smoother to have the alto sing E ↓ D↑ E. Now, of course, this new alto creates an irregular resolution ofthe G#-D diminished 5th – which should properly contract into A-C (aminor 3rd). However, the bass has been moving through scale degrees 1 –2 – 3, and thus ‘covers’ the note to which the diminished 5thshould resolve. This is one of the exceptions that Aldwell wentover in the chapter on vii6 – see 7-17 and the paragraph that precedesthat illustration as well.
Harmony And Voice Leading 5th Edition Pdf
Aldwell says “As part of the diminished5th, the 4th degree will normally move up to the 5th degree only if thebass moves up to the 3rd degree in parallel 10ths, thereby bringing inthe tone of resolution in another voice but very prominently (Example7-17). This voice leading occurs frequently.” Now, I realize thatin the example that you and I are dealing with, the bass isn’t moving upto the 3rd degree in completely parallel 10ths — those parallel 10thsoccur only in part. But other text books aren’t so strict about the parallel 10ths— their main concern is that the bass moves from a root position tonictriad, through the vii6, to the first inversion tonic triad, so that thebass moves into the 3rd degree, to which the 4th degree (in the uppervoice) would have properly moved. Aldwell himself writes a “summary”, atthe bottom of the same page, in which he writes “If the dissonanceis a diminished 5th, it must resolve unless vii6 moves to I6”,which sums this up nicely. I should also mention that my new alto usestwo 4th degrees, with one of them — the soprano — resolving properly,and the other — the alto — not.
Unit 9, Preliminary Exercises, Ex. B, in G minor. Your ii chord is missing its fifth, and is therefore‘incomplete’.
Had it been ‘complete’, it would have been incorrect, asii chords in minor are diminished, and should therefore always be infirst inversion. Such as:.A good try, Gustave, but while you’ve giventhe ii chord its fifth (Eb), you have somehow omitted itsroot (A). Since your resulting chord has two C’s and twoEb’s, we must regard it as being a iv chord (Cm) with no fifth,rather than a ii chord with no root. As well, your alto’s move from Eb (bar 2, beat 1) to Doverlaps the tenor’s previous Eb.
Aldwell Harmony And Voice Leading Pdf 2017
Here’s one possible solution:. as in:. The use of V6/5 in bar one eliminates the ‘jumpy bass’.The new voice leading allows smooth, unobtrusive melodic motion in theinner voices. Notice that in bar 2, I had the tenor skip up to thechordal 7th — but this is precisely the only skip I’d noticed in Aldwell(ie, from 2nd degree up to 4th degree).2. Soprano overlaps alto.Yes.Unit 9, Preliminary Exercises, Ex.
Aldwell Harmony And Voice Leading Pdf Online
I’ll let you decide: are there any voice-leading problems ineither of them?Yes: in bar two of the first version, the bass sings adescending minor 7th, which is a bad idea, even if that leap is followedby motion in the opposite direction!Exactly correct!Aldwell asks why this exercise (Ex. D) wouldn’t besuitable in a minor key. Do you know why?Is it because one would have to use a root position ii°chord, which, being diminished, should be avoided in minor?Excellent point, Gustave — one shouldn’t use a root position ii chordin minor. However, the problem lies elsewhere: in Ex. D, the soprano’slast three notes are.