Writing 4-Part Harmony Help Sheet

Writing Four-Part Harmony (Help Sheet) Writing 4-Part Chords: 1. Know which 3 notes make up the triad needed. The 4th note will be either the root or 5th doubled. 2. Know whether the chord you need is major or minor – do you need any accidentals? 3. Make sure all the notes in the chord have the same value. Adding in an Alto or Tenor Part: 1. Again, know what chord you are using. Is it in root position? 2. For each chord, look to see what notes have already been used. If a note in the triad has not been used at all, you must use that one – to achieve a balanced chord. 3. If all the notes have been used, then you may choose either the root or 5 th 4. Pencil in the notes you could use. Now you should also try and think about the melodic structure of the part.  These pieces (called chorales) are intended to be sung, so you must consider the ranges of the singers. The vocal ranges should not exceed the following.

The alto and tenor



parts are likely to be rather static – this is correct!  The alto part should not go higher than the lowest note of the soprano part, and likewise the tenor should not go lower than the highest note of the bass part. Both the alto and tenor parts, cross over into the Soprano or Bass range – to be avoided!

 You should

try and avoid consecutive 5ths and

consecutive octaves (where two parts an octave apart move in unison) Consecutive octaves between the alto and bass

 There should be no more than an octave between the soprano and alto parts, and the alto and tenor parts.  The bass part should be the only part which will use a bigger range and large 

jumps. The 7th note of a scale should always rise, whilst the supertonic (2 nd note in the scale) should always fall.