TH101 - Seth Monahan

VOICE LEADING
RESO L VIN G V7 to TO N I C
Voice-leading V7 smoothly to I is easy, but there are two key points that you must remember:

The chordal seventh MUST resolve downward by step when the chord changes.

Unless you use the sprung leading tone, smooth voice leading will necessitate that either your tonic
or your dominant will be incomplete. (In both cases, incomplete means lacking a chordal fifth.)

THREE COMMON RESOLUTION STRATEGIES:

1) INCOMPLETE TONIC
Whether ^2 moves down to ^1 or upward to ^3, a complete V7 will lead smoothly only to an incomplete tonic triad.
2) INCOMPLETE DOMINANT
If we double ^5 in the dominant and omit ^2, the former can be held as a common tone, making for a
complete tonic triad.
3) BOTH CHORDS COMPLETE
When the leading tone is in an inner voice (ONLY when it is in an inner voice!), it is permitted to
leap down to ^5 instead of rising to ^1. This allows a complete V7 to lead smoothly to a complete
tonic triad.

BASS*

UPPER VOICES**

(a) Incomplete tonic

(optional)

(^3)

^2
^7

(b) Incomplete V7

^1

^4

^7
^5

(c) Sprung leading tone

^1

^2

^5

^7
^4

^4

^1
^5

^3

^3

^3

^1

^1

^1

^5

^5

^5
^1

ONLY when in
an inner voice!

^1

^1

* In each example, the bass may leap up OR down to tonic; contrary motion to the upper voices is preferred.
** The scale degrees that make up the dominant are stacked arbitrarily here; they are not meant to represent an S/A/T configuration.
Any of these tones could appear in any of the upper three voices.