Part Writing Rules
Part Writing Rules
Part Writing Rules
In general, some theorists (including Ottman and myself) try to spend most of our time telling
you what to do rather than what not to do. If you internalize all of our little procedures then you
should be able to churn out progressions quickly and easily without really worrying about making
mistakes.
However, there are times when you really have to be familiar with the rules. Ottman sprinkles
many of these around the later chapters of the text, and he tries to summarize everything you need to
know in his Appendix A. Ive produced my own summary because I have a few slightly different
ideas of what needs emphasis or de-emphasis. Please compare what I say here to what Ottman says.
Making each triad
Doubling the root.
For triads in root position, try to cover all three chord tones in your upper
voices. That means you will end up doubling the root.
all three
tones
present
doubled root
LESS GOOD
doubled doubled
5th
3rd
tripled
root
Notice how uneven the upper three voices are in the example above. The interval between
soprano and alto is very small, and the interval between alto and tenor is too big. A
perfectly-spaced chord in open position skips over a chord tone between each voice.
GOOD
skip
skip
Motion Rules
Parallel Fifths or Octaves, Fifths or Octaves by Contrary Motion.
The rule about parallels is fairly simple. Any two parts that make a perfect fifth are not allowed to
go on to make another perfect fifth. In other words, you cannot make two perfect fifths in a row. Two
octaves in a row are also considered bad.
When the voices move in the same direction
it is called parallel 5ths or 8ves.
parallel 5ths
parallel 8ves
8ves by contrary
The two rules really boil down to the same thing: no two 5ths in a row, and no two 8ves in a row.
(OK)
(OK)
Parallel 3rds, 6ths, 4ths, and even tritones are all OK.
What makes writing 4-part progressions so difficult is the fact that you have to check for
parallels between every pair of voices.
sop. - alto
sop. - tenor
sop. - bass
alto - tenor
alto-bass
tenor - bass
Systematically checking every pair is, of course, time consuming and somewhat confusing. I find
that I use a shortcut when I evaluate the connection between two chords.
The first step is to take an inventory of the melodic (or horizontal) intervals -- how far each
individual voice is going up or down. Voices that move the same interval in the same direction
are parallel. (Dont confuse these melodic intervals with the vertical 5ths and 8ths we are on the
lookout for -- we dont really care if a voice moves up or down by a fifth.)
Here weve got
up a step,
stays the same,
up a step,
and down a 5th.
The two voices that move up a step are in parallel motion. So next we consider whether this
is good parallel motion or bad parallel motion. In this case the soprano and tenor parts make
parallel 6ths, which is good. No problem there.
Since every other voice is doing its own thing, you know that there are no other pairs of voices
in parallel motion.
This method is a little less simple for finding 5ths and 8ves by contrary, though. Youve got
to find two voices that do the opposite interval in opposite directions. Thus, its possibly bad
if two voices make any of the following combinations:
up a step + down a seventh
Fake parallels
Sometimes students start to see parallels when there arent any, because they get confused as to which
notes belong to which voice.
(not bad)
5th
or
8ve
LEGAL
5th
or
8ve
direct 5th
direct 5th
5th
or
8ve
5th
or
8ve
5th
or
8ve
direct 8ve
direct 8ve
You will be happy to know that this rule is considerably weakened in a 4-voice texture. It only
applies between the outer voices, soprano and bass. Also, if the soprano is moving by step it
covers up the direct 5th or 8ve, so its OK.
OK
not OK
As a result, you really dont have to worry about this rule much in 4-part writing.
Leaps
Generally, any melodic interval larger than a sixth is considered too big to leap in any
single voice. Octaves, however, have a special status, since in a sense they are a repetition of
the same note. Thus, you should avoid leaping by sevenths or by anything bigger than an octave.
Finally, a big problem that never goes away is flat-out wrong notes. Double check your triads by
scribbling out the letter names above the staff.
Good
E G B B D F
Bad
double root
double third, or double root, or double fifth
double fifth
Note that in the second example I would still call the ^7 going to ^5 a frustrated leading tone, but
since its in an inner voice it is allowed.
doubled l.t.
deceptive cadence,
^7 - ^6
moving downwards
into iii,
^8-^7-^6
secondary dominant,
^7 - ^7
This has got to do with the psychological phenomenon of streaming. It is thought that we often
hear leaps as a jump to a different line, leaving a trace of the old note in memory. Steps, however,
displace the old note. Thus, when we hear a ^7 that followed by a leap, we ask why didnt that
7^ connect to 1^ ? If we hear a 7^ that steps down to 6^ or ^7, however, we know exactly where it went.
The idea of the trace vs. displacement is mentioned in Steve Larson, "The Problem of Prolongation
in Tonal Music: Terminology, Perception, and Expressive Meaning." Journal of Music Theory 41/1
(1997), 104.