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Voice Leading
Voice leading (or part writing) is the linear progression of individual melodic lines ( voices or parts) and their interaction with one another to create harmonies, typically in accordance with the principles of common-practice harmony and counterpoint. These principles include voices sounding smooth and independent, generally minimising movement to common tones as well as steps to the closest chord tone possible, therefore minimising leaps where possible. As a result, different voicings and inversions of chords may provide smoother voice leading. Rigorous concern for voice leading is of greatest importance in common-practice music, although jazz and pop music also demonstrate attention to voice leading to varying degrees. The style of voice leading will depend on the performing medium; for example, singing a large leap may be harder than playing it on piano. Example The score below shows the first four measures of the C-major prelude from J.S. Bach's '' The Well-Tempe ...
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List Of Chorale Harmonisations By Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach's chorale harmonisations, alternatively named four-part chorales, are Lutheran hymn settings that characteristically conform to the following: * four-part harmony * SATB vocal forces * pre-existing hymn tune allotted to the soprano part * text treatment: ** homophonic ** no repetitions (i.e., each syllable of the hymn text is sung one time) Around 400 of such chorale settings by Bach, mostly composed in the first four decades of the 18th century, are extant: * Around half of that number are chorales which were transmitted in the context of larger vocal works such as cantatas, motets, Passions and oratorios. A large part of these chorales are extant as autographs by the composer, and for nearly all of them a colla parte instrumental and/or continuo accompaniment are known. * All other four-part chorales exclusively survived in collections of short works, which include manuscripts and 18th-century prints. Apart from the '' Three Wedding Chorales'' collecti ...
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Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, [ˈjoːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ]) ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the orchestral ''Brandenburg Concertos''; solo instrumental works such as the Cello Suites (Bach), cello suites and Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (Bach), sonatas and partitas for solo violin; keyboard works such as the ''Goldberg Variations'' and ''The Well-Tempered Clavier''; organ works such as the ' and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, Toccata and Fugue in D minor; and choral works such as the ''St Matthew Passion'' and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Reception of Johann Sebastian Bach's music, Bach Revival, he has been widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music. The Bach family had already produced several composers when Joh ...
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Harmonic Root
In the music theory of harmony, the root is a specific note that names and typifies a given chord. Chords are often spoken about in terms of their root, their quality, and their extensions. When a chord is named without reference to quality, it is assumed to be major—for example, a "C chord" refers to a C major triad, containing the notes C, E, and G. In a given harmonic context, the root of a chord need not be in the bass position, as chords may be inverted while retaining the same name, and therefore the same root. In tertian harmonic theory, wherein chords can be considered stacks of third intervals (e.g. in common practice tonality), the root of a chord is the note on which the subsequent thirds are stacked. For instance, the root of a triad such as E Minor is E, independently of the vertical order in which the three notes (E, G and B) are presented. A triad can be in three possible positions, a "root position" with the root in the bass (i.e., with the root as the lowe ...
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Scale Degree
In music theory, the scale degree is the position of a particular note on a scale relative to the tonic—the first and main note of the scale from which each octave is assumed to begin. Degrees are useful for indicating the size of intervals and chords and whether an interval is major or minor. In the most general sense, the scale degree is the number given to each step of the scale, usually starting with 1 for tonic. Defining it like this implies that a tonic is specified. For instance, the 7-tone diatonic scale may become the major scale once the proper degree has been chosen as tonic (e.g. the C-major scale C–D–E–F–G–A–B, in which C is the tonic). If the scale has no tonic, the starting degree must be chosen arbitrarily. In set theory, for instance, the 12 degrees of the chromatic scale are usually numbered starting from C=0, the twelve pitch classes being numbered from 0 to 11. In a more specific sense, scale degrees are given names that indicate their ...
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Strict Counterpoint
In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The term originates from the Latin ''punctus contra punctum'' meaning "point against point", i.e. "note against note". John Rahn describes counterpoint as follows: Counterpoint has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradition, strongly developing during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period, especially in the Baroque period. In Western pedagogy, counterpoint is taught through a system of species (see below). There are several different forms of counterpoint, including imitative counterpoint and free counterpoint. Imitative counterpoint involves the repetition of a main melodic idea across different vocal parts, with or without variation. Compositions written in free counterpoint often incorporate non-traditional harmonies and cho ...
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Counterpoint
In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The term originates from the Latin ''punctus contra punctum'' meaning "point against point", i.e. "note against note". John Rahn describes counterpoint as follows: Counterpoint has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradition, strongly developing during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period, especially in the Baroque period. In Western pedagogy, counterpoint is taught through a system of species (see below). There are several different forms of counterpoint, including imitative counterpoint and free counterpoint. Imitative counterpoint involves the repetition of a main melodic idea across different vocal parts, with or without variation. Compositions written in free counterpoint often incorporate non-traditional harmonies and c ...
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Heinrich Schenker
Heinrich Schenker (19 June 1868 – 14 January 1935) was an Austrian music theory, music theorist #Theoretical writings, whose writings have had a profound influence on subsequent musical analysis. His approach, now termed Schenkerian analysis, was most fully explained in a three-volume series, ''Neue musikalische Theorien und Phantasien'' (''New Musical Theories and Phantasies''), which included ''Harmony (Schenker), Harmony'' (1906), ''Counterpoint (Schenker), Counterpoint'' (1910; 1922), and ''Free Composition'' (1935). Born in Vyshnivchyk, Wiśniowczyk, Austrian Galicia, he studied law at University of Vienna and music at what is now the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna where his teachers included Franz Krenn, Ernst Ludwig, Anton Bruckner, and Johann Nepomuk Fuchs (composer), Johann Nepomuk Fuchs. Despite his law degree, he focused primarily on a musical career following graduation, finding minimal success as a composer, conductor, and accompanist. After 1900 ...
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Tie (music)
In music notation, a tie is a curved line connecting the heads of two or more notes of the same pitch, indicating that they are to be played as a single note with a duration equal to the sum of the individual notes' values. A tie is similar in appearance to a slur; however, slurs join notes of different pitches which need to be played independently, but seamlessly (legato). Ties are used for three reasons: (a) when holding a note across a bar line; (b) when holding a note across a beat within a bar, i.e. to allow the beat to be clearly seen; and (c) for unusual note lengths which cannot be expressed in standard notation. Explanation A writer in 1901, said that the following definition is preferable to the previous: Other sources: Ties are normally placed opposite the stem direction of the notes, unless there are two or more voices simultaneously. The tie shown at the top right connects a quarter note (crotchet) to a sixteenth note (semiquaver), creating a not ...
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Half Note
In music, a half note (American) or minim (British) is a Musical note, note played for half the duration of a whole note (or semibreve) and twice the duration of a quarter note (or crotchet). It was given its Latin name (''minima'', meaning "least or smallest") because it was the shortest of the five note values used in mensural notation, early medieval music notation. Half notes are notated with a hollow oval notehead like a whole note and straight note stem with no flag (music), flags like a quarter note (see Figure 1). The half rest (or minim rest) denotes a silence of the same duration. Half rest (music), rests are drawn as filled-in rectangles sitting on top of the middle line of the musical staff, although in polyphonic music the rest may need to be moved to a different line or even a ledger line. As with all notes with stems, half notes are drawn with upward stems on the right when they are below the middle line of the staff and downward stems on the left when they are on ...
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Whole Note
A whole note (American) or semibreve (British) in musical notation is a single note equivalent to or lasting as long as two half notes or four quarter notes. Description The whole note or semibreve has a note head in the shape of a hollow oval—like a half note (or ''minim'')—but with no note stem (see Figure 1). Since it is equal to four quarter notes, it occupies the entire length of a bar_(music), measure in time signature, time. Other notes are multiples or fractions of the whole note. For example, a double whole note (or ''breve'') lasts twice the duration of the whole note, a half note lasts one half the duration, and a quarter note (or ''crotchet'') lasts one quarter the duration. A related symbol is the whole rest (music), rest (or semibreve rest), which signifies a rest for the duration of a whole note. Whole rests are drawn as filled-in rectangles generally hanging under the second line from the top of a musical staff, though they may occasionally be put under ...
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Stem (music)
In musical notation, stems are the "thin, vertical lines that are directly connected to the otehead." Stems may point up or down. Different-pointing stems indicate the voice for polyphonic music written on the same staff. Within one voice, the stems usually point down for notes on the middle line or higher, and up for those below. If the stem points up from a notehead, the stem originates from the right-hand side of the note, but if it points down, it originates from the left. If there are multiple notes beamed together, the stem's direction is defined by the average of the lowest and highest notes in the beam. There is an exception to this rule: if a chord contains a second, the stem runs between the two notes with the higher being placed on the right of the stem and the lower on the left. If the chord contains an odd numbered cluster of notes a second apart (such as C, D, E), the outer two will be on the correct side of the stem, while the middle note will be on the wrong s ...
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Inverted Chord
In music theory, an inversion is a rearrangement of the top-to-bottom elements in an interval, a chord, a melody, or a group of contrapuntal lines of music. In each of these cases, "inversion" has a distinct but related meaning. The concept of inversion also plays an important role in musical set theory. Intervals An interval is inverted by raising or lowering either of the notes by one or more octaves so that the higher note becomes the lower note and vice versa. For example, the inversion of an interval consisting of a C with an E above it (the third measure below) is an E with a C above it – to work this out, the C may be moved up, the E may be lowered, or both may be moved. : The tables to the right show the changes in interval quality and interval number under inversion. Thus, perfect intervals remain perfect, major intervals become minor and vice versa, and augmented intervals become diminished and vice versa. (Doubly diminished intervals become doubly augme ...
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