Finding common tone connections
This is our first step in formal four-part writing. The purpose of this page, and of the exercises associated with them, is to gain the habit of connecting harmonies that possess a common tone by keeping that common tone within the same voice. Once established, this habit will help you in all your future writing.
For your first exercises in four part writing then, you are to invent your own chord progressions based on a simple principle: choose chords that have at least one common tone between them, and keep that common tone within the same voice to assure a smooth connection from one chord to another. Move the other voices in such a way as to avoid parallel octaves or fifths and to avoid (as much as possible) direct mortion into an octave or a fifth between any two voices.
Here is an example, then we will lay out a process by which you can invent similar progressions.
To invent your own chord progressions, you should re-read the chapters from the first book on Essential Chord Progressions. Here you will observe that there are three fundamental chord motions: by fifth/fourth, by third (ascending and descending) and by step. Clearly triadic movement by step cannot result in two chords with a common tone, so in this exercise you are limited to the first of the two essential chord progressions.
Here are some basic principles to follow as you invent some progressions:
- Close with either a perfect or a plagal cadence.
- A Perfect Cadence is V - I or V7 - I
- A Plagal Cadence is IV - I (The "Amen" cadence or the Blues cadence).
- Open with a I chord.
- Try to make a combination of forward progressions and reciprocal progressions. Notice that in the above example, the following are forward progressions: ii-V; V-iii, iii-vi-ii; IV-ii, V-I and these are the reciprocal progressions: iii-vi and IV-I. It is common to have more forward progressions, which are defined as down a third, down a fifth/up a fourth, and up a step (illegal at this stage). The reciprocal progressions are up a third or down a fourth/up a fifth.
- Notice when you play the progressions back how the different types of progressions sound to your ear.
- Use primarily root position triads.
- Use first inversion triads judiciously, and always with a good musical reason. Usually first inversion triads are employed when you wish a lighter, less rooted texture or when the bass voice will more more melodically and less haphazardly, as can happen when the bass voice always takes the root of the chord.
Next: 3C Lattice Tone Connections