Prior Knowledge: Scales, chord construction and closely related keys.
Content of Lesson: Focusing on the basic “rules” of chorale harmonisation. Remember, these are more like guidelines to help you produce the best possible part writing, which is key to the chorale style. If you are studying for a qualification, it is best to stick with the “rules are rules” mindset!
A Brief Outline of the Chorale Style
Chorale harmony is also commonly referred to as four-part harmony, named after the number of parts that make up the choir. Chorales are written primarily to be sung by a four-voice choir in a standard SATB setup:
Soprano Alto Tenor Bass
These voices are typically written in one of two ways, using either open or closed scoring. Open scoring, also known as vocal scoring, is written with each voice contained on its own stave, making for ease of reading and singing for performers. Closed scoring is written with two staves, one containing Soprano and Alto (in treble clef) and the other containing Tenor and Bass (in bass clef). This allows for easier study of harmony in my opinion, while still retaining ease of singing albeit with more ledger lines in the Tenor!
Closed Scoring:
Open Scoring:
Part writing is as key to the chorale style as the harmonic progressions. You can think of part writing as the horizontal movement of individual parts within the texture, while the harmony itself works vertically. The two work in tandem, resulting in chords that flow smoothly due to the well-written independent parts.
The basic rules of four-part harmony will guide you to create music in this style.
Rule 1: Avoidance of Parallel Fifths and Octaves
Parallel fifths and octaves occur when two parts that are a fifth or octave apart move in the same direction to new notes that are the same interval apart. Often, they are relatively easy to spot:
However, sometimes they do become more difficult to identify or avoid!
Most of the time, you will only have to concern yourself with standard parallel fifths and octaves, however you should also be on the lookout for exposed fifths. These are where the melody moves by leap to another note, in similar motion to the bass part (moving in the same direction), and the resulting harmony is at the interval of a fifth or octave. These are considered poor harmony in chorales, as the similar motion combined with the perfect intervals between the outer parts distracts too much from the rest of the harmony. Your ear is attracted to it, and therefore distracted by it.
Our first rule tells us that parallel and exposed fifths and octaves should be avoided. There are a few reasons for this:
- The intervals of a 5th and 8ve are considered perfect intervals. Their strong sound is very distinct, and therefore consecutive intervals of these types tend to distract from the rest of the texture.
- There are only ever four voices sounding at once. Two or more voices singing consecutively in parallel tend to sound as one part, and thus reduces the number of different parts.
- Regular consecutive parallels reduce the options available for the rest of the parts when it comes to harmony. It becomes much harder to build interesting parts with the remaining voices if two or more are moving so strongly in the same direction!
Task 1: Parallels Task
Identify all of the parallels in the following example of “bad” harmony. There are both parallel and exposed 5ths or 8ves in this example (there are many!).
Rule 2: Part Spacing
Part spacing concerns the vertical distance between each part, in the case of chorales between Soprano and alto, alto and tenor, and tenor and bass.
Changes in part spacing effect the texture of the music. Vocal music in particular is sensitive to changes in part spacing, as voices are prone to quite extreme timbre changes across the pitch range. Chorales have a particular sound that comes not just from the avoidance of parallels, but also from the spacing of the chords so that the timbres are balances nicely.
The part spacing rule is as follows:
- No part in a chorale should be further than an octave away from its neighbour, except the bass voice.
- This can be remembered by using the phrase “the bass fills the space!”, (or alternatively, get Megan Trainor’s All About That Bass stuck in your head for days…).
By extension of this rule, it is best to write chorales in such a way as the distance between the tenor and soprano parts is never more than an octave and a 5th, but these parts should usually be as closely spaced as possible.
Task 2: Part Spacing Task
To get your head round how the parts should be spaced, complete the following five chords on manuscript paper, ensuring that spacing is kept within the limits defined above.
Rule 3: Steady Inner Harmonies
This is perhaps the most ‘flexible’ rule in that it is not strictly the case in all situations. However, as with the other rules it will help yield good harmony.
First of all, we must consider the roles of each voice:
- The Soprano will take the melody, while the bass will take the bass line. These two parts must balance each other, with a strong melody being accompanied by a strong bass line.
The soprano and alto should work well as a two-part texture without the addition of other parts.
- The alto and tenor will share the inner harmonies.
They should add colour and fullness to the texture created by soprano and bass alone. They are the crucial supporting roles that make chorales work so well.
In order to keep the parts well balanced, we must consider the contour (shape) of each part:
- The soprano contains the melody, and will likely be a combination of steps and leaps.
- The bass contains the bass line, which will likely include more leaps than the melody.
To balance these parts, and not distract from them, the alto and tenor parts should have a steady and mostly stepwise contour, with only occasional leaps over a third. This holds the texture together by contrasting the more mobile outer parts with steady inner parts.
In the example above, you can clearly see all the elements of part-writing at work. There are leaps in the soprano melody and the bass (bar 1 beat 3) while the middle parts area very steady, in this example never leaping at all (Ah, the mastery of Bach! I hear you cry!).
Task 3: Inner Harmony Task
Following the guidelines above, as well as using correct part spacing and avoiding forbidden parallels, complete the inner harmony in the following example. The bass and soprano are given for you.
Summary
You should now be able to:
- Understand what parallel and exposed fifths and octaves are, and identify them in a score.
- Create well-spaced chords.
- Compose inner harmonies that are steady and appropriate to the chorale style.
When you can do this, you are ready for Lesson 3: Basic Non-Harmony (Non-Essential) Notes.
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