Difference between revisions of "Voice Leading"

Revision as of 12:08, 10 June 2014

Voice Leading refers to using certain voicings for chords dependent upon the previous and next chord in the progression. In other words, when chord 1 uses this voicing, chord 2 should use that voicing. Up until now we have been concerned simply with diatonic progressions and the harmonic functions of chords to construct or analyze a progression. We've briefly touched upon position and voicing but purposefully avoided any details. Well, the time has come!

PreReqs

Origins and Purpose of Voice Leading

Every era of music has developed its own set of "rules" regarding composition. These simply mirror the preferred customs of the day. Again, there is no bad or good music in fact, only in opinion, which tends to fluctuate from person to person and from era to era. The voice leading described here follows the set of boundaries that emerged from composers during the Renaissance and Common Practice Period. They are mostly derived from the rules of counterpoint.

Counterpoint is a compositional style that is mainly concerned with multiple simultaneous melodies. The melodies must have some concern for the harmony their interaction creates. In fact, simply combining two random melodies, even if their rhythms are synchronized and pitches transposed to the same key, will more than likely result in a song that has a confused, directionless, and dissonant harmony. When done well, however, counterpoint was immensely popular. Thus, those in the musical craft began developing rules and frameworks to compose counterpoint that avoided the bad and exploited the good.

While counterpoint and voice leading are separate topics, classical voice leading rules mirror counterpoint. In counterpoint, each melodic line is considered independent. Voice leading comes from a similar line of thought, taking each note of a chord as an independent voice. As chords change, each voice must rise, fall, or hold pitch. Using rules consistent with counterpoint, the specific note of the chord each voice would move to depends on the current notes and possible selections for the other voices.

The ultimate effect of following these rules is a smooth transition between chords that maximizes the discernability of the change in harmony, while minimizing noticeable changes in pitch.

Rules

Johann Fux is perhaps the most widely known scholars to identify and codify rules of counterpoint and voice leading. His rules are concerned with the type of motion and the type of intervals created by each pair of voices.

Types of Motion

• Parallel - Both voices move in the same direction the exact same number of semitones.
• Similar - Both voices move in the same direction; however, one is raised or lowered more than the other.
• Contrary - Both voices move in opposite directions
• Oblique - One voice moves while the other remains constant.

Fux's Voice Leading Rules

These can be reduced to 2 simple rules:

1. If the destination interval is perfect, only contrary or oblique motion can be used.
2. Parallel motion can only be used if the starting and destination intervals are imperfect.

Additional Rules

Here are some additional rules I was taught:

• Contrary motion is preferred over parallel motion.
• Voices should not cross, although they can meet at the same note.
• The leading tone should always resolve up to the tonic if the tonic is part of the next chord.
• Smaller movement is preferable to larger movement.

Application to Guitar

For guitar, we are more limited than if each voice were played by its own instrument, or has the ability to play any combination of notes simultaneously. For practicality's sake, we may not be able to finger what strict voice leading determines is the proper chord voicing to use.

Here are some charts of complimentary chord shapes that mostly follow good voice leading principles. Leading tones are resolve up to the tonic. Contrary motion is preferred. Movement in parallel 5ths and octaves is avoided. However, we are not retaining strict unique voices - we may choose to add or drop a voice. Each set of two chords are written in the same position, as large as necessary to accommodate both chords. To actually finger the chords will likely require a positional shift in some occasions. These will work for any position, with the key indicated by where the root note of the tonic chord falls. I am picking a couple examples, but there are actually far more possibilities, especially when we consider 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th, and other complex chords.

Table Conventions

• ? - Indicates that the analysis is questionable due to there being more notes in one chord than the other. We assume that the chord with less notes uses two voices on the same note. Thus we can get contrary motion from a bass note that ascends a M2 and descends a P4 to form a small power chord as the two low notes of the next chord.
• * - Indicates that proper voice leading is not being followed for the interval in question. This is almost always due to movement to parallel 4ths using similar or parallel motion. We could avoid these bad examples by removing (a) note(s) from one or both chords; however, they are usually too subtle to notice. Where we do allow some undesirable voice leading, we make it as subtle as possible. We avoid it on the top two or bottom two voices. We avoid parallel 5ths and octaves, although we allow parallel 4ths. We prefer similar motion over parallel in many situations.
• A few cases have similar motion of two low notes to the same bass notes. This forms a P1 interval, which should not be led by similar motion; however, the alternative is to use inverted chords, which we are avoiding for clarity at this time.
• The chord shapes contain numbers indicating the scale degrees of the notes that comprise the chord. Notice all the tonic chords use (1, 3, 5), the ii chord uses (2, 4, 6), etc.

Major Keys

|-|6|-|-|-|
|-|-|4|-|-|
|-|-|-|2|-|
|-|-|-|6|-|
|-|2|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

|-|-|-|-|5|
|-|3|-|-|-|
|-|1|-|-|-|
|-|5|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|3|-|
|-|-|-|-|1|

}Contary
}Similar
}Parallel*
}Contrary
}Contrary?

|-|-|-|6|-|
|-|2|-|-|-|
|6|-|-|-|-|
|-|4|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|2|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

|-|5|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|3|-|
|-|-|-|1|-|
|-|-|-|5|-|
|-|1|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

}Contary
}Similar
}Similar*
}Contrary
}

|-|3|-|-|-|
|-|7|-|-|-|
|-|5|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|3|-|
|-|-|-|7|-|
|-|3|-|-|-|

|-|3|-|-|-|
|-|-|1|-|-|
|-|5|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|3|-|
|-|-|-|-|1|
|-|-|-|-|-|

}Oblique
}Oblique
}None
}Oblique
}Similar?*

|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|7|
|-|-|-|-|5|
|-|7|-|-|-|
|-|-|5|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|3|

|1|-|-|-|-|
|5|-|-|-|-|
|3|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|1|-|-|
|-|-|5|-|-|
|1|-|-|-|-|

}Oblique
}Oblique?
}Contrary
}Oblique
}Oblique

|1|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|6|-|-|
|-|-|4|-|-|
|-|-|1|-|-|
|4|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

|1|-|-|-|-|
|5|-|-|-|-|
|-|3|-|-|-|
|-|-|1|-|-|
|-|-|5|-|-|
|1|-|-|-|-|

}Oblique
}Similar
}Oblique
}Oblique
}Contrary?

|-|4|-|-|-|
|-|1|-|-|-|
|-|-|6|-|-|
|-|-|-|4|-|
|-|-|-|1|-|
|-|4|-|-|-|

|3|-|-|-|-|
|-|1|-|-|-|
|5|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|3|-|-|
|-|-|-|1|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

}Oblique
}Oblique
}Similar
}Oblique
}Oblique?

|5|-|-|-|-|
|2|-|-|-|-|
|-|7|-|-|-|
|-|-|5|-|-|
|-|-|2|-|-|
|5|-|-|-|-|

|5|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|3|-|-|
|-|-|1|-|-|
|-|-|5|-|-|
|1|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

}Oblique
}Similar
}Oblique
}Oblique
}Contrary?

|-|-|-|5|-|
|7|-|-|-|-|
|5|-|-|-|-|
|2|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|7|-|-|
|-|-|-|5|-|

|-|-|-|5|-|
|-|1|-|-|-|
|5|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|3|-|-|
|-|-|-|1|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

}Oblique
}Oblique
}Oblique
}Similar
}Similar?*

|3|-|-|-|-|
|-|1|-|-|-|
|-|-|6|-|-|
|-|-|3|-|-|
|6|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

|3|-|-|-|-|
|-|1|-|-|-|
|5|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|3|-|-|
|-|-|-|1|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

}Oblique
}Oblique
}Oblique
}Oblique
}

|-|1|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|6|-|
|-|-|3|-|-|
|6|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

|-|1|-|-|-|
|-|5|-|-|-|
|-|-|3|-|-|
|-|-|-|1|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

}Oblique
}Oblique
}Oblique
}
}

|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|2|-|
|-|-|6|-|-|
|-|-|-|4|-|
|-|-|7|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

|3|-|-|-|-|
|-|1|-|-|-|
|5|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|3|-|-|
|-|-|-|1|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

}Contrary?
}Parallel*
}Similar
}Contrary
}

|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

Natural Minor Keys

|-|-|-|-|
|-|4|-|-|
|1|-|-|-|
|-|6|-|-|
|2|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|

|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|5|
|1|-|-|-|
|5|-|-|-|
|-|3|-|-|
|-|-|-|1|

}
}Oblique
}Oblique
}Contrary
}Contrary?

|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

}
}
}
}
}

|-|3|-|-|
|-|7|-|-|
|-|-|5|-|
|-|-|-|3|
|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|

|-|3|-|-|
|-|-|-|1|
|-|-|5|-|
|1|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|

}Oblique
}Oblique
}Oblique
}
}

|-|-|-|3|
|5|-|-|-|
|3|-|-|-|
|7|-|-|-|
|-|-|5|-|
|-|-|-|3|

|1|-|-|-|
|5|-|-|-|
|3|-|-|-|
|-|-|1|-|
|-|-|5|-|
|1|-|-|-|

}Oblique
}None
}Oblique
}Oblique
}Oblique

|1|-|-|
|-|6|-|
|-|-|4|
|-|-|1|
|4|-|-|
|-|-|-|

|1|-|-|
|5|-|-|
|3|-|-|
|-|-|1|
|-|-|5|
|1|-|-|

}Oblique
}Similar
}Oblique
}Oblique
}Contrary?

|-|4|-|-|
|-|1|-|-|
|-|6|-|-|
|-|-|-|4|
|-|-|-|1|
|-|4|-|-|

|-|-|-|5|
|-|1|-|-|
|5|-|-|-|
|-|3|-|-|
|-|-|-|1|
|-|-|-|-|

}Oblique
}Oblique
}Similar
}Oblique
}Oblique?

|5|-|-|-|-|
|2|-|-|-|-|
|7|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|5|-|-|
|-|-|2|-|-|
|5|-|-|-|-|

|5|-|-|-|-|
|-|3|-|-|-|
|-|-|1|-|-|
|-|-|5|-|-|
|1|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

}Oblique
}Similar
}Oblique
}Oblique
}Contrary?

|-|-|-|5|
|-|-|-|2|
|5|-|-|-|
|2|-|-|-|
|-|7|-|-|
|-|-|-|5|

|-|-|-|5|
|-|1|-|-|
|5|-|-|-|
|-|3|-|-|
|-|-|-|1|
|-|-|-|-|

}Oblique
}Oblique
}Oblique
}Similar
}Similar?*

|3|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|1|-|-|
|-|-|6|-|-|
|-|-|3|-|-|
|6|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

|-|-|-|-|5|
|-|-|1|-|-|
|-|5|-|-|-|
|-|-|3|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|1|
|-|-|-|-|-|

}Oblique
}Oblique
}Oblique
}Oblique
}

|-|-|1|-|-|
|-|-|-|6|-|
|-|-|3|-|-|
|6|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

|-|-|1|-|-|
|-|-|5|-|-|
|-|-|3|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|1|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

}Oblique
}Oblique
}Oblique
}
}

|-|4|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|2|-|
|-|-|-|7|-|
|-|-|-|4|-|
|-|7|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

|-|-|-|5|-|
|-|1|-|-|-|
|5|-|-|-|-|
|-|3|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|1|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

}Contrary?
}Similar*
}Similar
}Contrary
}

|2|-|-|-|-|
|-|7|-|-|-|
|4|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|2|-|-|
|-|-|-|7|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

|-|3|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|1|-|
|-|-|5|-|-|
|1|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|

}Similar
}Parallel*
}Contrary
}Contary?
}

Harmonic Minor Keys

Opposing Viewpoint

Blues, originating and developed completely outside of the traditions of classical Western music, breaks a number of the above rules. And since blues was a strong influence on the rock-based styles of music, many continue in this tradition. Boogie-woogie particularly emphasized movement in parallel fifths. Modern rock music tends to use a few common chord shapes and move them around the fretboard, rather than follow classical voice leading guidelines. Modern rock also typically emphasizes root notes of chords over inversions, which in many cases must lead to "improper" voice leading.

Homework

Practice all of the above progressions, focusing on the smoothness and emphasized resolutions. Contrast it to a few other random voices of one or both the chords.

Write your own progression and try to use proper voice leading. Use inversions where necessary.

Q & A

Related Lessons

• Prev: Intermediate Lessons
• Next: Modulation