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4-Part Writing Ain’t Easy

But, I’m not bitching.

Traditional counterpoint has a heap of rules for what is considered to be good writing. You have to consider the harmonic relationship and linear activity of the notes– where the notes are coming from and where they’re going and which ones are mingling together to have lunch, chat, and so on. It’s best to have contrary motion between all voices, using 3rds and 6ths as much as possible when the voices are moving in parallel. Parallel 5ths are to be avoided like the plague, and unless you find a hidden parallel 5th, I think I avoided them in this attempt. Traditionally, you write from the bottom up, but I wrote from the soprano line down. I didn’t pay as much attention for rules concerning melodic skips and steps. Instead, I tried to listen to each voice and make adjustments if the line of the melody was sounding foul.

I learned firsthand, that writing a chorale is not that unlike playing an intricate chord-melody piece on guitar. Each beat is often a different chord. I wrote the chords over most of the quarter notes, but not over passing chords. Got too cluttered. I think A#7/E# is a better description than Ddim/F in measure 9, if you care to know.

Thanks for listening.