SATB Doubling, Omissions & Spacing
Doubling When a three-note chord is used in four-part harmony, one of the triad notes must be used twice. This is called “doubling” a note. The doubled note can …
SATB Harmony
Introduction to SATB Harmony Chords are often written for four separate voices, parts or instruments, because a 4-note chord makes a richer sounding chord than a three-note chord. This is …
Q1a | Chords to Accompany a Melody
Writing Chords to Accompany a Melody The first question in the ABRSM grade 6 theory paper asks you to provide a chord progression for a given melody. You are given …
Chromatic Decoration
Chromatic Passing Notes Chromatic passing notes are passing notes which do not belong to the current key. They normally occur between two notes which are a tone apart, filling in …
Pedals
A “pedal” is a note which is repeated or held for some time, while the chords around it change. Pedals are normally found on either the tonic or dominant notes. …
Changing Notes
The term “changing note” is used to describe a variety of non-chord note patterns. What they have in common is that the non-chord note is unaccented, and the figure employs …
Anticipations
An anticipation is an unaccented non-chord note which is an early sounding of the following chord note, which is then repeated within its own chord. For example, the soprano chord …
Appoggiaturas
Appoggiaturas are accented non-chord notes which move by step (up or down) to a chord note to resolve. In this example, the chord is C major. The note D is …
Auxiliary Notes
Ordinary Auxiliary Notes Auxiliary notes are non-chord notes which are approached and quit in the opposite direction by step. They are usually unaccented. Auxiliary notes occur between two chord notes …
Accented Passing Notes
Accented passing notes fall on the beat, instead of between the beats. Here are some undecorated chords. There are thirds in the soprano part which could be decorated with unaccented …