VOICE LEADING: RESOLVING V to I THINGS to REMEMBER When Connecting V Chords to I Chords, It’S Helpful to Remember a Few Key Guidelines: TH101 - Seth Monahan 1

MUS 103– Aaron Grant

VOICE LEADING: RESOLVING V TO I THINGS TO REMEMBER When connecting V chords to I chords, it’s helpful to remember a few key guidelines: TH101 - Seth Monahan 1. Avoid larger leaps except in the bass when V and I are in root position; in most cases, voices should be kept constant or move by step. VOICE2. The leading tone should LEADINGalmost always resolve to scale-degree 1 except when “springing” a leading tone inTONIC an inner voice (see & below). DOMINANT TRIADS You will3. beIn connectingminor, the leading tonics toneand dominantswill need to hundreds be raised inof order times to during use a dominantyour harmony chord training. for cadences. So the best approach is to know this ubiquitous progression inside and out. Achieving a smooth connection THREEbetween RESOLUTION I and V is easy. STRATEGIES However, there are a few caveats to remember when resolving V back to I. The (Afterfollowing Monahan discussion 2012) explains dominantÅtonic resolutions in terms of scale degree behaviors–that is, where the individual tones of each triad are likely to go as we move from one chord to the next. (The 1.) diagramsTHE MOST below EFFICIENT presume that the root is doubled in each 5/3-chord, as is conventional.)

If THREEscale degree COMMON ^2 (re) moves RESOLUTION up to scale degree STRATEGIES: ^3 (mi) then all the upper voices may move by step or stay constant, allowing for very smooth voice leading. 1) THE MOST EFFICIENT 2.) THEWhen INCOMPLETE scale degree TONIC ^2 moves upward to scale degree ^3, it is easy to move from a complete dominant to a complete tonic. As example (a) shows below, simply move the leading tone up to tonic, It’s alsoand possibel hold ^5 to over resolve as a scalecommon degree tone. ^2 (re) to scale degree ^1 (do). This often necessitates the use of an incomplete tonic chord. As (b) shows below, if you resolve scale degree ^7 (ti) up in such cases, then you must triple2) THEthe root. INCOMPLETE Because all TONIC incomplete triads must contain at least one chordal third, this means that scale degreeOften, ^5 (sol) it hasis desirable to leap down to have by third ^2 resolve to scale not degree to ^3 but ^3 (mi). to ^1 . This will often necessitate an incomplete tonic chord. As (b) shows below, if you resolve the leading tone (^7) normally in such cases, scale 3.) THEdegree “SPRUNG” ^1 is tripled LEADING in the tonic TONE chord. Since all incomplete triads must contain at least one chordal third, it is then necessary to have ^5 leap down to cover ^3. If the leading tone is in an inner voice, it can leap down by third to scale degree ^3 (mi). The result is similar to the3) incompleteTHE “SPRUNG” tonic example LEADING (b), TONE but we get a complete chord because of the “sprung” leading tone. When the leading tone is in an inner voice (ONLY when it is in an inner voice!), it is permitted to NOTE:leap The down tonic to or ^5 dominant instead of chord rising can to be^1. Thisinverted. results In suchin a variantcases, theof (b), voice shown leading at (c)examples below, below where are ^2 still goodmoves examples to ^1, but to follow.where Thethe onlytonic change chord iswill complete be that scale rather degree than ^5incomplete. (sol) in the bass will be held constant instead of leaping to scale degree ^1 (do).

(a) Most Most efﬁcient efficient (b)(b) Incomplete tonic (c) (c)“Sprung” “Sprung” leading leading tone tone ^3 ^2 ^2 ^2 ^1 ^1 ^1 ^7 ^7 ^7

^5 ^5 ^5 ^5 ^5 ^5 ONLY when in

UPPER VOICES an inner voice! UPPER VOICES** ^3 ^3

^1 ^1 ^1

BASS* ^5 ^5 ^5 BASS ^1 ^1 ^1

* In each example, the bass may leap up OR down to tonic; contrary motion to the upper voices is preferred. ** The scale degrees that make up the dominant are stacked arbitrarily here; they are not meant to represent an S/A/T conﬁguration. Any of these tones could appear in any of the upper three voices. MUS 103– Aaron Grant

6. Mozart, String Quartet, K. 170, IV THREENote ANALYTICALthat the violin II and EXAMPLES viola parts contain many notes that embellish the under- DVORAK:lying chords. Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, op. 95, Mvt. 3, Trio I, mm. 1–4

Poco sostenuto 3

1                                  Orch.                                                                                7. Fink, “Die schöne Welt” (The Beautiful World), from Musikalischer Hausschatz der FINK, “Die schöne Welt” (The Beautiful World), from Musikalischer Hausschatz der Deutschen Deutschen

Translation: God’s world is beautiful! Full of many pleasures for man and beast. God’s world is beautiful.

BACH, J.S.: Chorale 62, “Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten”, m. 1

102 | CHAPTER 9 | I and V

CITH_CH09_WKBK_INST_5pp page 102 11 August 2015 4:55 PM Fifth Pages MUS 103– Aaron Grant

LET’S PRACTICE! Harmonize the following bass line using the principles described above and provide a roman numeral and contextual analysis. 3 &4 {? 3 ˙ œ œ ™ 4 ˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙