Parallel harmony

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In music, parallel harmony, also known as harmonic parallelism,

harmonic planing or parallel voice leading, is the parallel movement
of two or more lines (see voice leading). Examples may be found in
Claude Debussy's Prlude l'aprs-midi d'un faune (1894), Maurice
Ravel's Daphnis and Chlo Suite No. 2 (1913), Richard Strauss's
Elektra (1909), Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, "Columbine"
(1914), and William Schuman's Three Score Set for Piano (1944). In
the last example the inversions of the chords suggest a bichordal
effect.[2]
Diatonic planing fromFeuilles mortes
("Dead Leaves") by Claude Debussy.[1]
Play

Triadic planing from Le Tombeau de Couperin by Maurice Ravel.[1]

Play

The famous "organ chords" of Debussy's Prelude#10, La cathdrale

engloutie. Play

Lines with parallel harmony can be viewed as a series of chords with

the same intervallic structure. Parallel means that each note within the
chord rises or falls by the same interval.

In the example to the right, we see a series of quartal chords in parallel

motion, in which the intervallic relationship between each consecutive
chord member, in this case a minor second, is consistent. Each note in
the chord falls by one semitone in each step, from F, B, and E in the Quartal chords descending by semitone.
first chord to D, G, and C in the last. Play

See also
Traditional sub-Saharan African harmony
Consecutive fifths
Constant structure
Parallel key
Parallel chord
Side-slipping
Doubling (music)
 Block chord

References
Notes

1. Cope, David (2000). New Directions in Music, p.6. ISBN 1-57766-108-7.

2. Kliewer, Vernon (1975). "Melody: Linear Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music", Aspects of Twentieth-
Century Music, p.332 to 333. Wittlich, Gary (ed.). Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-
13-049346-5.

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This page was last edited on 25 June 2017, at 15:54.

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