![]() To make the written music clear, the soprano voice must have notes with stems going up while the Alto voice must have notes with stems going downwards. The notation for these is written on two staves: one in the treble clef for the Soprano and Alto parts and the other in the bass clef for the Tenor and Bass parts. The NotationĪs we said, 4-part harmony is written for 4 voices: Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass (SATB in short). Guidelines for: 1) proper notation, 2) the ranges of the voices, 3) doubling Writing basic 4-part harmony requires some fundamental Later on in this lesson, we’ll come back to the same Bach example and see what it can teach us about the basics that we are learning today. Thinking about why the composer chose to do things in one way or another provides composition lessons that no book or course can teach us! Earlier we looked at a brief excerpt from a Chorale by Bach (whose music is the standard model for 4-part writing). In addition, learning how composers of the past wrote their music opens it up for analysis and further learning.Four-part harmony is an important part of this evolution. When you see how music composition developed over time, you get a profound appreciation of how it evolved to fit the needs and purposes of its time. Four-part harmony is part of a continuous line of musical development from the earliest medieval chants to contemporary film music.You can then apply your understanding in any way you like in your own music. The study of four-part harmony teaches you how music works (by working with aspects such as chord progressions, rhythm and writing melodies). The discipline you get from manipulating musical notes in certain ways according to certain guidelines can be applied to any other musical style.The answer to this question merits its own article but Writing, why should we even learn a musical system of the past? Now before we move on to the basics of four-part Why do we Learn a Musical System of the Past? The orchestral strings are often treated as a 4-part choir The orchestral strings, for example, are often treated as a four-part choir: 1 st violins on top, then the 2 nd violins and violas in the middle, and cellos plus double basses together for the lowest part. Four-part harmony also accounts for the whole range of human voices: from the lowest notes (sung by males) to the highest (sung by females) and everything in between.īecause of these reasons, even instrumental or orchestral music of the time was written with four-part harmony in mind.Tonal music and four-part harmony complement each other perfectly. As you know, this type of music mainly works with our typical major and minor chords and these chords fit really well into 4 parts. Four-part harmony developed as tonal music became standard (that’s the musical system of the major and minor keys).While music for 2, 3, 5, 6 and more voices does exist,Ĥ-part harmony became standard in the musical style of the 17 th, 18 thĪnd 19 th centuries (a period known as the Common Practice Era). Common Questions about Four-Part Harmony. ![]() How to Write 4-Part Harmony: the Basics.Why do we Learn a Musical System of the Past?.We get four distinct parts held together by the same chord progression. In four-part harmony, we deal with both these two aspects at the same time. The harmonic (or ‘vertical’) aspect and the melodic (or ‘horizontal’) aspect work together. This is the harmonic, or the ‘vertical’, aspect of the At any one moment, the musicĬonsists of 4 voices each singing one note. So their notes are combined into one sound. Secondly, the four voices are singing at the same time Firstly, there areĤ voices and each one is singing a melody. Here’s a brief example of 4-part harmony from the The term ‘voice’ or ‘part’ refers to any musical line whether it is a melody sung by singers, a long note played on an instrument or anything in between. So what is four-part harmony? Four-part harmony is a traditional system of organising chords for 4 voices: soprano, alto, tenor and bass (known together as SATB). The concept developed over centuries and is still used to this day. This is an important element of the musical language of the Classical masters from Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven and beyond. As you slowly advance in music theory and composition, you will inevitably run into 4-part harmony.
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