Four part harmony help

[just_in75]

Hello all,
Long time viewer, first time poster here.
Normally I find any answers I want within these forums without having to make my own queries but this time I'm at a loss so am asking myself.

I've just recently started receiving lessons in four part harmony but am still a complete novice and was wondering if there's anyone out there who can give me some help with a little task I was given by my tutor. I've got a pic here of the first two questions, which I'm struggling to know if I've done correctly.

Can someone please say what chords they'd use in either/both these situations? I'm still not sure of all the four part rules yet.





any replies with your ideas even in a "I A/C#/E" style would be appreciated.

Cheers in advance guys!

Justin

[JJBiener]

I don't think we should be giving you answers. Why don't you post your answers and we can comment on what you've already done.

[just_in75]

Haha true, that makes sense. I'm at work atm so gotta be quick here. It's just a practice one so figured it'd be fine getting answers. I'm more after tips than answers anyway though, like if there are any tricky things in there that I should be looking out for. I've got basic four part down but still need to see what difference 3/4 timing has on it as well as modulation. Any tips would be appreciated and I'll give it a go tonight.


Cheers for your reply,

Justin

[tapper mike]

I see the sheet I don't see your work in it. Put some effort into it and come back.

[jancivil]

I've just recently started receiving lessons in four part harmony but am still a complete novice

augmented sixth chord [just before a cadence apparently to i]

a complete novice given what is really a second year, 'chromatic harmony' [incl. at conservatory, and I can't imagine this is early in second year as I identify the particular difficulties] part-writing test?

Before any tips, since it seems like there is something wrong with your story, what will the french sixth be in B minor?

[JJBiener]

a complete novice given what is really a second year, 'chromatic harmony' [incl. at conservatory, and I can't imagine this is early in second year as I identify the particular difficulties] part-writing test?

This is a good point. I was a music major, albeit briefly, and I never had to deal with aug6 chords or even Napoleonic 2nds. These tend to be rather specialized harmonic constructs. I have been playing music for nearly 40 years and I have never come across one.

Like Jan, I am wondering why your tutor would give this exercise to a "complete novice". Unless perhaps he is a distant relative of the Marquis de Sade.

[jancivil]

I was curious and did what I took as the more problematic areas... I had obtained mastery of that kind of exercise once upon a time. This looks like a truly difficult test, more like the midterm if not the final to the honors curriculum I was allowed into at CCM, which occurred partly as I'd had first and second years already.

EG: it's going to be pretty tough to get to that first cadence via an augmented sixth and not have a parallel fifth ... [you must have practiced the aug sixth to see why]

[jancivil]

I never had to deal with aug6 chords or even Napoleonic 2nds. These tend to be rather specialized harmonic constructs. I have been playing music for nearly 40 years and I have never come across one.

well the aug sixth can be found in JS Bach's part writing, albeit it tends to be believed to be restricted to late romantic harmony, eg., Wagner. The so-called 'Tristan chord' is a french sixth with a particular resolution owing to the top line, the melody...

here it has to work inside of a quarter note. whether or not this can be done to very good effect is another question also. this is a fvcked test for a novice.

[just_in75]

Heya's guys cheers for the replys. Yeah I'm not a complete novice I guess, just learning four part from a tutor online because someone recommended it. I just ended up telling her I was having trouble with it and she showed me how it can be done, and yeah, well over my head so back to basics for me.

[NKF]

augmented 6 chords and Neapolitan ( not napoleonic) 6 are everywhere in modern music especially pop. The way people label chords tends to ignore the sort of function tonal harmony attributes to a chord but those chords are in hundreds of pop songs. Tritone substitutions, every time you get a bVi to V motion is arguably an ital6. The neopolitan 6 tends to be used as a pivot chord to a remote key region for bridges. Say using I6 which becomes bII6 in the new key region.

Anyhow, i filled this out in my head in about 5 minutes. There are some things you can decide just on the basis of elimination. If you can only have 1 chord per bar, then that will dictate what aug6 chord you can use due to as jancivil mentioned the parallel 5ths. So the french 4/3 would be your choice there. Work on the cadences , then just fill it in.

The school i went to , this would be say a midterm level test for the first harmony course. So it is possible he/she is a novice. But ya, you need to show some effort because it just seems like you want an answer.

[jancivil]

the surest way to avoid problems there is the French sixth (C# [rather than D] in the tenor there @ beat 1).



I reinforce your idea, the thing to do is sort the cadences first, and find the worst problems first.

Because of this kind of problem, I wouldn't give this to someone that didn't have eg., the aug sixth coming in, and I wouldn't assume that from 'novice'. at community college this was second year which I took concurrent with first yr 'diatonic'.

I agree that similar chords are found all over the place in popular song, but the resolution and voice leading is not required in such a move, and that [part-writing] can lead to some interest outside of 'chord progression' strictly speaking. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neapolitan ... c_contexts

Both the aug sixth and Neapolitan sixth are subdominant in function of course. EG: Aug sixth means iv6, raise the sixth.

the french sixth particularly does prefigure the flat five substitute [as secondary dominant].

[NKF]

i don't think the resolution is required in that following your presentation that the french 4/3 is as you said a pre dominant with some alterations, a further alteration would be the way they are resolved, or their inversion, or their use as substitutes for dominants / applied dominants or major triads for the ital6 .... But given this is an exercise in tonal harmony , probably best to at least notice when you are doing voicings you would be deducted points for and keep it simple.

I suppose when learning, it is a good idea to pay attention to the voices rather than the chord. One thing i've noticed not just on here is this obsession with chords which i think is not the best way to look at music. When i was learning harmony, i would try to follow the voices and not just hear / see a chord. This is probably the one thing in 4 part choral that teachers tend to not reinforce. Well i think most harmony is taught in this block chord sort of way and the end result is somewhat years of bad habits ? not sure if i'm saying it right.

[JumpingJackFlash]

There is an excellent book I recommend for Four-Part Harmony, and you can get it from here. It tells you everything you need to know (and more), and explains it simply, step by step.

I agree with the others that this is clearly not a "novice" question, and I would have expected you to have been studying Four-Part Harmony for about a year before attempting this question.

If you truly are a novice, then you need to start with something a lot easier. If you aren't a novice, then you should be asking more specific questions. Like others here, I am happy to check your work, but I'm not going to do it for you!

[Ogg Vorbis]

One thing i've noticed not just on here is this obsession with chords which i think is not the best way to look at music.

I agree. The way people discuss chords sometimes, I get the impression that they believe that music creation is like brick-laying. A chord is a brick and you just stick them one-by-one together with some mortar until you have structure.

The question that doesn't come up very often is what was going on the actual composer's head? How did he think of it? The assumption is that he just stuck the bricks together and he had the skills to know which brick best followed the previous one.

Come to think of it, there is even a bit more to bricklaying than this.

[jancivil]

good analogy.

it gets old, this putting chords first all the time. clearly it's easier on the intellect to do that. often you find an unnecessary duality, harmony and melody separated, in the discourse when one insists on it.