# 4 part-writing exercise - need evaluation



## rbarata

Here's my exercise (the first from a series of at least 10) of 4 part-writing.

Had a lot of issues mainly due to a poor writing between bass and soprano (if you noticed they move in similar motion most of the time).
Anyway...here it is:









The key is C Maj...the software doesn't use lower case numerals so don't care about it. :wink:


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## Torkelburger

Looks good. On your next one, though, try and come up with a progression that uses inversions and is therefore much smoother. And I'm not at my piano, so I can't hear it, but hearing it in my head the final cadence sounds a little off. There are two root position V chords after the ii chord and before the I chord. Shouldn't it just go straight to I after ii and V? Or maybe you mean to write a cadential 6-4 chord instead of the first V chord? Instead of the first V chord you have in the second-to-last bar, try C-C in the soprano-alto, and E-G in the tenor-bass to make a I64 chord. Let me know what you think (I'm not at my piano).


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## rbarata

Torkelburger said:


> Looks good. On your next one, though, try and come up with a progression that uses inversions and is therefore much smoother. And I'm not at my piano, so I can't hear it, but hearing it in my head the final cadence sounds a little off. There are two root position V chords after the ii chord and before the I chord. Shouldn't it just go straight to I after ii and V? Or maybe you mean to write a cadential 6-4 chord instead of the first V chord? Instead of the first V chord you have in the second-to-last bar, try C-C in the soprano-alto, and E-G in the tenor-bass to make a I64 chord. Let me know what you think (I'm not at my piano).


Thanks for the input, Torkelburger.
Your solution sounds much better...the effect is similar to my solution (that's why I changed the voicing of both V chords) but much more pronounced and melodically speaking it possible to ear each voice as a different melody (independent) while my solution is not so good because the independence is lost due to the parallel 8ves and 5ths. Not so good really!

As I wrote this is an exercise and it was mandatory to use root position chords only. Although I know how to use inverted chords I was not allowed to. Plus, the poor choice of soprano and bass made it a lot worse.

Thanks again


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## EdwardBast

It all looks good except for a couple of problems in measure 5:

1. Here the outer voices have direct motion from a P5 to an octave. This is the basic problem, which leads to:
2. All of the voices moving in the same direction. This is difficult to correct because it would require a leap of a tritone from F to B (best avoided) to get any contrary motion.

The best way to salvage the situation, if you must keep the soprano and bass as they are, is to triple the root of the V chord, that is, to make the tenor move from F-G. This works surprisingly well since the D missing from the V chord is doubled in the preceding II chord. Not an optimum solution, but probably the best that can be done with the soprano and bass you have chosen.


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## rbarata

EdwardBast said:


> The best way to salvage the situation, if you must keep the soprano and bass as they are, is to triple the root of the V chord, that is, to make the tenor move from F-G. This works surprisingly well since the D missing from the V chord is doubled in the preceding II chord. Not an optimum solution, but probably the best that can be done with the soprano and bass you have chosen.


In fact it doesn't sound bad. As a beginner I always try to avoid these extreme voicings but maybe I should be *bolder* in my decisions when needed.

Thanks for your input, EdwardBast.


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