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In bar 4 there is a rest after the C which I have harmonized with V. In bar 5 there is a leap up to F which I would like to harmonize with I but that would give me parallel 5ths in the outer voices. Or would it? Does the rest mean that the next chord can be harmonized as I wanted?

  • Depends, you have to realize that the rules are due to what sounds "correct". A composer would not blindly apply the rules. It is not about right or wrong, it is about degree(no pun intended). Not all parallels are bad and sometimes you find them in "masters" works. A parallel starting and ending phrases will generally not be as problematic if it is clear there is a close(the close itself closes the ambiguity generated by parallels). Parallels are simply an issue with quality where the independence of independent melodies are lost. They generally also sound weak because there are betterchoices – Gupta Apr 27 '22 at 03:59

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No, neither the use of a rest or the Unison escapes the problem of consecutive octaves.

What I'm seeing is the chance at chord repetition. You have a C, then a F and then a C again. All these can be considered the same chord. To be specific b-flat: V. You can consider what inversion works best in regards to what goes before and after it.

Neil Meyer
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  • Harmonies extend through an immediately following rest. In a biography of Corelli, there is a story about exercises Corelli gave to some students. The students claimed that there were lots of "parallels"; the Corelli suggested remembering the extension of a harmony through the succeeding rest. – ttw Apr 09 '22 at 13:16
  • If neither Bars 1-2 nor Bar(s 4-)5 scream "use the same chord for all notes, ignoring inversions" to you, Bar 7 surely should. – Dekkadeci Apr 09 '22 at 14:32
  • 5th,8tv 5th in the outer voices hardly Makes for a good soprano Dekkadeci, imperfect consonances on those notes sound much better. That is why I didnt want the same bass note for all 3 soprano tones. –  Apr 09 '22 at 17:07
  • @armani - I actually think, of the ones I listed above, Bars 1-2 sound the worst when harmonized with the same chord (ignoring inversions) throughout. Both Bars 4-5 and Bar 7 sound better. – Dekkadeci Apr 09 '22 at 18:58
  • I harmonized those first 3 notes with a I V6 I figure and it sounds good. My books stress that you only really want a perfect consonance for the 1st chord and at points of repose or cadences. My harmonization gets me an octave then a 6th and then a 10th for the Db of bar 2. The C of bar 4 I harmonized with V for an idiomatic P5 in the outer voices. I didnt want to use only root position V for bar 5 because of the perfect consonances I would have in the outer voices (3 in a row) so finally I used V to V6 for bar 5. This gives me a 10th for the second chord. –  Apr 10 '22 at 09:14
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Given that you seem to be instructed to use only I or V; and are asked to harmonise "every note", I'd guess that in this instance there wouldn't be much opportunity for such parallels, since these and other rules of voice leading generally apply to changes between chords, not repetitions of the same (and there are not too many chords that can go on a Db if the only choice you have is Bbm or F...); and on top of that, given proper voice leading, it is usually preferrable for voices to not jump wildly up and down (since the point is them being singable).

However, more generally, and ignoring what modern theory textbooks might say, the above answer (by Neil Meyer) is wrong. While not something which should be taken for granted, consecutive fifths specifically at a rest in the music (i.e. at fermatas) happen frequently enough in the chorales of J.S. Bach, that it's clear that these can be acceptable, and are certainly not a case of "never", at least in the mind of that particular composer. Although they tend to mostly be 5ths and not 8ves (though the latter do appear), and in contrary motion (and to repeat the point, at fermatas), all of which combined rather attenuate the negative effects of such otherwise objectionable progressions (Dahn, Luke, 2018, "Consecutive Fifths & Octaves in the Bach Chorales").

AlexJ
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