# Piece functions help needed



## rbarata

Hello, my friends

I'm looking for some help in order to understand what's going functionally in in this piece.









Thank you


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## mikeh375

It's not the best part writing in places as is. Can you give any context? Is it vocal? Is the middle line a tenor part? Instrumental?


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## Torkelburger

A six-bar, poorly written, 3-part choral in C Major that attempts to modulate to the V (G Major) in bar 4-5. That's basically it.

The first 4 bars are various diatonic chords in C Major in root position and inversions. Not all of the chords are spelled completely and are missing chord members, so not ideal.

The modulation to G Major occurs the last beat of bar 4, but it is with iii of G Major instead of V. Goes to IV of the new key. F# of bar 5 is an unaccented neighbor tone.

Last chord is a problem. Six-four tonic chord of the new key, but does not function as a six-four chord.


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## rbarata

Well, I know there are some issues with the part writting, especially in the ranges.
The context is that I wrote the melody shown in the middle voice and then added the bass line only. By that time the last two measures didn't exist (except a closing chord in the 5th measure).
The I added the higher score just for fun, trying to complete the chords with the triads missing notes.
Then I changed the last chord and added the last two measures.

This is just for fun but I can't understand whats have I done functionally wise.


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## rbarata

One more question about harmonizing melodies.
What is the general practice? We use the chords that meet the melody notes or do we aim for a certain function to each chord?


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## mikeh375

This will help, this is the first year book, there are another two books in the series too taking the student up to advanced CP. Time to get your head down....

https://archive.org/details/firstyearharmon00love/page/n1


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## rbarata

Thanks for the sugestion, Mike. I'll give it a look.
I've studied these intial steps a few years ago (scales, movements, triads, some harmonizations, etc).
So, part of it is not new to me but, as you could see by the piece, there's still a lot to learn.


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## Guest

mikeh375 said:


> This will help, this is the first year book, there are another two books in the series too taking the student up to advanced CP. Time to get your head down....
> 
> https://archive.org/details/firstyearharmon00love/page/n1


Ah yes, good old William Lovelock! I still use them (Books I and II) for my harmony classes.
The link you give for his First Year Harmony has a curious publication date of 1900, when William Lovelock would have been 1 year old !!!


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## mikeh375

TalkingHead said:


> Ah yes, good old William Lovelock! I still use them (Books I and II) for my harmony classes.
> The link you give for his First Year Harmony has a curious publication date of 1900, when William Lovelock would have been 1 year old !!!


LOL TalkingH.
I was brought up on these books. I went through his Examination Fugue too which is also a decent text, do you know that?


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## Guest

mikeh375 said:


> LOL TalkingH.
> I was brought up on these books. I went through his Examination Fugue too which is also a decent text, do you know that?


We had *Kitson* at school (for A-level work) but my piano teacher supplemented that with Lovelock 1st & 2nd year harmony.
No, I'm afraid I never read his Examination Fugue but I do have his Free Counterpoint !!


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## mikeh375

TalkingHead said:


> We had *Kitson* at school (for A-level work) but my piano teacher supplemented that with Lovelock 1st & 2nd year harmony.
> No, I'm afraid I never read his Examination Fugue but* I do have his Free Counterpoint !!*


I went through that too (free counterpoint) and his Form in Brief. now that I think about it, I owe that man a lot. To the OP, Lovelock's Free Counterpoint mentioned by TalkingHead is also a fine study...

https://www.scribd.com/document/407527317/272650942-FREE-Counterpoint-Lovelonfck-PDF-pdf


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## Phil loves classical

First 3 bars show a clear progression. Becomes more sketchy afterwards.


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## Guest

mikeh375 said:


> I went through that too (free counterpoint) and his Form in Brief. *now that I think about it, I owe that man a lot.* To the OP, Lovelock's Free Counterpoint mentioned by TalkingHead is also a fine study...
> 
> https://www.scribd.com/document/407527317/272650942-FREE-Counterpoint-Lovelonfck-PDF-pdf


I owe a lot to *William Lovelock*, too! My only regret is that in his harmony books he never made concrete references to the classical repertoire. I use his harmony method (*First & Second Year*) in my classes and luckily I am able to draw comparisons. This would not be the case with younger, less experienced teachers. 
An example would be his four chapters on *Secondary Sevenths*: these are excellent exposés of the theoretical function (preparation-attack-resolution) of such 7ths, and he gives very effective workings. Nevertheless, I would have liked a reference to one or two works that exemplify the theory. 
Luckily, *Bruckner* provides many examples, but there again, for a novice teacher, these things are not so evident.


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