Year 12: Four Part Harmony Lesson 3 MIDDLE PARTS

Today we will look at the middle parts in a 4 part chorale, they are the ___________ and ____________
voices.

Look at the chorale below, we now have several steps to follow. Usually you would also have to
figure out the bass line itself.

1. Work out what chords and keys are intended by the composer and annotate the choral. This
chorale is in the key of ______ __________.
2. Work out which cadences are being used the first cadence here is a ____________ in the key
of ____________.
3. Fill in the inner parts according to the chords, taking care of:

Doublings:

Root position chords: double the root

First inversion: double either the root or third (for Vb always double the root*)
Second inversion (Ic): double the fifth

Spacing:

The basic rule when writing a chorale melody is that the top three parts should generally be
as close as possible. If there is a large gap it should be between the bass and the tenor
parts.

You should follow these two basic guidelines:

In each phrase the gap between tenor and soprano must be no more than a 12th (an
octave and a fifth) at any point and less than an octave at some point
there should not be a gap of more than an octave between Soprano and Alto or Alto and
Tenor
NEVER cross the parts!

Leaping:
Inner parts anchor the texture and should therefore leap much less than the bass - boring is
good!
 Consecutively repeated notes are preferred - Where there is a common tone between two
chords, keep it in the same voice
The last four rules above also apply to the inner parts

Intervals:
The tritone (augmented fourth or diminished fifth) spans three whole tones and was long
avoided in Western music as a melodic interval; its awkwardness led it to be called diabolus
in musica (the devil in music). It occurs between the fourth and seventh degrees of both
major and minor scales and between the second and sixth of the minor.
The augmented second appears between the sixth and seventh notes of the minor scale. As
well as being awkward to sing, it has a distinctive Eastern (or folk) feel that Western
composers have generally avoided.
Parallels:

You must not write fifths or octaves that are both:

consecutive (i.e. in two chords that are next to each other)
and parallel (i.e. moving in the same direction)