Study+Guide+for+Partwriting+Test

Partwriting specifics:

1. Please review the range of each of the 4 voices

2. Triad doubling for 4 parts A. Root position chord - double the bass B. First inversion major and minor chords - double the soprano C. First inversion diminished chords - double the bass ***diminished chords will appear in first inversion D. Second inversion chords - double the bass

3. Stem direction: Soprano - up, alto - down, tenor - up, bass - down

4. When writing parts - soprano and alto on treble clef; tenor and bass on bass clef

5. Partwriting errors:

Parallel unisons, fifths, and octaves Crossed voices Overlapping voices Writing melodic A.2 or A. 4 in one voice (these are usually sung out of tune) Do not double the leading tone Do not double any altered tone. Leading tone should resolve to tonic in the same voice. Chordal sevenths resolve down.

ALWAYS CHECK FOR PARTWRITING ERRORS

6. Best practice in partwriting:

Whenever possible retain the common tones if there are any between two chords Contrary motion is preferable between the upper voices and the bass Keep the intervals as small as possible between the three upper voices. (Tenor and alto may have very limited movement - this is very normal)

7. There are four types of movement between voices

Parallel Similar Oblique Contrary