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Elementary Accompaniment Writing

3K views 16 replies 5 participants last post by  kwokboy 
#1 ·
I am self-teaching myself piano accompaniment writing. As I got a ABRSM grade 8 in music theory 2 years ago, I want to apply my music knowledge to some music now. Therefore I started reading the book Elementary Accompaniment Writing by William Lovelock.

I have done some exercises from the book. Could anyone give me some comments on my answer?
This question is from chapter 4, exercise 1 on page 54. (I have attached the pdf version of it)

The question requires us to write a simple accompaniment pattern (no variation) for the melody, and I need to figure out the harmony myself (although the bass notes and the first two bars are provided).

Can anyone comment my answer in terms of the following aspect?
(a) Chord progression
(b) Voice leading
 

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#2 ·
Athrun,

Looks pretty good to me. I had my undergrad work in music theory, so I've got enough training to officially give you my unofficial estimation :D

but your chord functions are all correct and the notes you wrote definitely spell out those harmonies.

your voice leading is pretty good in this exercise, really. I don't see a lot of big leaps, everything is done smoothly.

so nice job!
 
#3 ·
Most of it looks good to me too. Nice job with the voice-leading. As far I can tell, you only need to make two corrections:

Measure 6 is not V of vi, it's actually V6/5 of vi. It's a seventh chord (notice the G in the soprano) in first inversion.

Measure 12 is not V, it's I 6/4. The G is a passing tone. The A is the main chord tone.
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the comment guys:D:D
I am still learning and I might post more exercises here to get feedback.

Measure 12 is not V, it's I 6/4. The G is a passing tone. The A is the main chord tone.
In fact I struggled quite a bit in the last four bars (bar 12 - 16). Here's the reasons:
(1) It is a plagal cadence, and I have no experience in this kind of cadence.
(2) I6/4, which is a suspension of V, usually leads to V. If I put I6/4 in bar 12, it seems there is no room for the I6/4 to resolve to the dominant chord. That's why I finally put a V in bar 12. Because I thought the harmony may make more sense in this way.

What do you think about (2), Bettina?
 
#6 · (Edited)
The RH of m.12 that you supplied dictates that the entire measure be a V. The melody "A" will be a consonant accented neighbor tone. But since you supplied the LH and RH of m.12 trhw suggestion to have a I6/4 for the first two beats and a V on the last beat can be done too
 
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#7 ·
.... The melody "A" will be a consonant accented neighbor tone.
I know that neighbor tone is a kind of non chord tone. Accented means it is on the main beat. But the term consonant, as far as I know, means it is in harmony with the rest of the notes in the same beat, i.e. implying a chord tone.

So the whole term consonant accented neighbor tone seems a little bit confusing to me.
Would you mind to elaborate a bit on this?
 
#8 · (Edited)
Sure. Non-chord tones are usually dissonant, clashing a second against a chord tone, but the melody "A" at first harmonizes with the "C" in the bass, so at first there is no dissonance. Once the "G" of the RH occurs then some dissonance is heard. But even then the "G" may be perceived as the 7th of an Am7 chord and so it still is considered somewhat consonant.

The best way to know that the melody "A" is a non-chord tone is to hear how it resolves to the "G" on the third beat. You'll feel the "G" as relaxing in comparison to the "A" that drops down into the "G". It's easier to hear it than see it. So singing the melody along with playing the piano part will reveal the role of the pitch "A".

BTW: I re-thought about the possibility of using the second inversion tonic for the first two beats and I realized that to do so would be technically incorrect as it would neither be a passing, static/auxiliary or cadential six-four.
 
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#10 ·
Chapter 4 Exercise 6

Hi everyone, I have finished another exercise which is more difficult than the previous one to me.

Starting from bar 5, I am not quite sure about the chord progression that the melody implies. As the leading note F sharp is not resolved, I think it is a tonicization of chord iv.

For bar 6, it seems the melody is going to modulate to a major key and I have no idea what chords to harmonize the melody. The neapolitan chord and its tonicization that I use sounds quite weird. I am not sure if it is correct or not.

Finally, I cannot figure out a nice piano ending to this piece (I am not a pianist). It sounds nice but the 4-semiquavers group at the end doesn't fit in the rest of the piece as the tempo is 6-8, the semiquavers group should either contain 3 or 6 notes.
 

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#11 ·
Hi everyone, I have finished another exercise which is more difficult than the previous one to me.

Starting from bar 5, I am not quite sure about the chord progression that the melody implies. As the leading note F sharp is not resolved, I think it is a tonicization of chord iv.

For bar 6, it seems the melody is going to modulate to a major key and I have no idea what chords to harmonize the melody. The neapolitan chord and its tonicization that I use sounds quite weird. I am not sure if it is correct or not.

Finally, I cannot figure out a nice piano ending to this piece (I am not a pianist). It sounds nice but the 4-semiquavers group at the end doesn't fit in the rest of the piece as the tempo is 6-8, the semiquavers group should either contain 3 or 6 notes.
are you trying to be a composer?
these exercises will not be very helpful IMO

study real compositions
copy the patterns that you like
and then try to modify them once you get familiar with

there are things in the post sound weird to me....

actually, not every non-harmonic tone/discord requires resolution

piano writing tends to be homophonic
no need to get good voice leading as long as it sounds good

also smooth voice-leading wont guarantee good melodies

if you want things to be contrapuntal
simply avoid consecutive 5ths, avoid consecutive 8ths
and avoid other consecutive intervals for more than 3 or 4 times
fxxk strict counterpoint fxxk hidden 5ths LOL
they wont be much useful here

btw, I passed ABRSM grade8 theory a couple years ago as well...
 
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