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In the workbook for "Harmony and Voice Leading" (5th edition), there is an exercise on page 14 for which I need to write an accompaniment.

As you can see in the instructions, octaves and unisons between the three upper voices and the solo line are permissible. Can someone explain what this means?

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Dom
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armani
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1 Answers1

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An apparent octave (or fifth) occurs when a note is double but is not intended to create another "voice." For example, in strict four-part harmony, one tries to keep all four voices independent so the listener is able to hear four moving melody lines. The "bad" parallel octaves (or fifths) occur when two voices undergo parallel movement in octaves (or fifths.) For example, moving from a C major chord to a D major chord could be problematic. C-E-G-C followed by D-F#-A-D doesn't give the impression of 4 voices, rather it sounds like a single (somewhat complex) voice.

In the example quoted, there is a melody voice with a piano accompaniment to be filled in. In such a case, the piano may play sections using a different number of voices. Often anywhere from 2 to 5 voices are common in such accompaniments. One has to be careful that there is a consistent 3 or more voice texture but some voices may be doubled. One rarely gets away with doubling the bass or the melody but in a full orchestra, lots of doubling happens.

ttw
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  • Ok so if the melody line goes C D E and an inner voice in the accompaniment does the same then this is fine? It is almost like you are saying that even though there are four voices required for the accompaniment and one voice given, there will only be 4 real voices not 5 since one will just be a double of the melody within the accompaniment, is this the way I am to understand it? – armani May 18 '22 at 23:52
  • A bit like that. One thing that happens often is that the bass line is duplicated an octave lower. Sometimes the melody is duplicated in octaves; not in the posted score though; it has a separate melody line so the piano probably shouldn't duplicate it. If the piano is accompanying in both hands (as it seems), chords may be duplicated. In a block chord setting one might have C-G-C in the bass and C_E-G-Bb in the Treble. without violating the rules. (It's more monophonic and the chords need not be heard as independent voices.) The bass still should be independent of the melody. – ttw May 19 '22 at 00:51
  • The melody will have to be doubled in one of the inner voices of the accompaniment since this is not going to be a thing where you have the soprano as the top voice is it? The register of the melody is too low to have chords built underneath it. Here is another example from the same textbook where they suggest two first chords. Look at the melody and look at the accompaniment. You can see the melody notes in different voices of the accompaniment. First the E as the alto of the accompaniment and then the C as the soprano https://ibb.co/9TKRhYg – armani May 19 '22 at 09:53
  • I think that example also demonstrates "apparent" unisons. One thing that seems clear to me after seeing this later exercise is that while the top voice of the accompaniment is not always the same as the melody note as provided but the accompaniment seems to span the range of the melody. Not sure why this is the case but that seems to be deliberate here – armani May 19 '22 at 11:29