Voicing (music)
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music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...
, voicing refers to two closely related concepts: # How a musician or group distributes, or spaces, notes and chords on one or more instruments # The simultaneous vertical placement of notes in relation to each other; this relates to the concepts of spacing and doubling It includes the
instrumentation Instrumentation a collective term for measuring instruments that are used for indicating, measuring and recording physical quantities. The term has its origins in the art and science of scientific instrument-making. Instrumentation can refer to ...
and vertical spacing and ordering of the
musical note In music, a note is the representation of a musical sound. Notes can represent the pitch and duration of a sound in musical notation. A note can also represent a pitch class. Notes are the building blocks of much written music: discretizatio ...
s in a chord: which notes are on the top or in the middle, which ones are doubled, which octave each is in, and which instruments or voices perform each note.


Vertical placement

The following three chords are all C-major triads in
root position The root position of a chord is the voicing of a triad, seventh chord, or ninth chord in which the root of the chord is the bass note and the other chord factors are above it. In the root position, uninverted, of a C-major triad, the bass is ...
with different voicings. The first is in close position (the most compact voicing), while the second and third are in
open position In partner dancing, open position refers to positions in which partners are connected primarily at the hands as opposed to closer body contact, as in closed position. The connection is through the hands, wrists, and fingers, and relies heavily ...
(that is, with wider spacing). Notice also that the G is doubled at the octave in the third chord; that is, it appears in two different octaves. :


Examples

Many composers, as they developed and gained experience, became more enterprising and imaginative in their handling of chord voicing. For example, the
theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (arts), the unifying subject or idea of the type of visual work * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical ...
from the second movement of
Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
's early Piano Sonata No. 10 (1798), presents chords mostly in close position: On the other hand, in the theme of the Arietta movement that concludes his last piano sonata, Piano Sonata No. 32, Op. 111 (1822), Beethoven presents the chord voicing in a much more daring way, with wide gaps between notes, creating compelling sonorities that enhance the meditative character of the music: Philip Barford describes the Arietta of Op. 111 as "simplicity itself… its widely-spaced harmonization creates a mood of almost mystical intensity. In this exquisite harmonization the notes do not make their own track – the way we play them depends upon the way we catch the inner vibration of the thought between the notes, and this will condition every nuance of shading."
William Kinderman William Andrew Kinderman (born 1 November 1952) is an American author and music scholar who plays the piano. Life Born in Philadelphia, Kinderman studied music and philosophy at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania and later the same subjects at ...
finds it "extraordinary that this sensitive control of sonority is most evident in the works of Beethoven's last decade, when he was completely deaf, and could hear only in his imagination." Another example of the later Beethoven’s daring approach to voicing can be found in the second movement of his ''Hammerklavier'' Sonata, Op. 106. In the trio section of this movement (bars 48ff), Martin Cooper notes that “Beethoven has enhanced the strangeness of the effect by laying out much of the music four or five octaves apart, with no comfortable ‘filling’ between. This is a layout common in the works of his last years.” During the
Romantic Era Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
, composers continued further in their exploration of sonorities that can be obtained through imaginative chord voicing. Alan Walker draws attention to the quiet middle section of Chopin's Scherzo No. 1. In this passage, Chopin weaves a "magical" pianistic texture around a traditional Polish Christmas carol: Maurice Ravel's ''Pavane de la Belle au Bois Dormant'' from his 1908 suite '' Ma Mère l'Oye'' exploits the delicate transparency of voicing afforded through the medium of the piano duet.
Four hands 'Four Hands' is a Taiwanese drama directed by You-Ning Lee, starring Wu Hsing-kuo. The movie premiered on 12 October 2014 in Taiwan. The story depicts a veteran of the Republic of China Army from Shantung who settled in Taiwan, separated from his ...
can cope better than two when it comes to playing widely-spaced chords. This is especially apparent in bars 5–8 of the following extract: ] Speaking of this piece (which also exists in an orchestral version), Austin writes about Ravel's technique of "varying the sonority from phrase to phrase by telling changes of Register (music), register." The two chords that open and close Igor Stravinsky's ''
Symphony of Psalms The ''Symphony of Psalms'' is a choral symphony in three movements composed by Igor Stravinsky in 1930 during his neoclassical period. The work was commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orc ...
'' have distinctive sonorities arising out of the voicing of the notes. The first chord is sometimes called the ''
Psalms chord In music, the Psalms chord is the opening chord of Igor Stravinsky's '' Symphony of Psalms''. It is a "barking E minor triad" that is voiced "like no E-minor triad that was ever known before" – that is, in two highly separate groups, one in t ...
''. William W. Austin remarks: Some chord voicings devised by composers are so striking that they are instantly recognizable when heard. For example, '' The Unanswered Question'' by Charles Ives opens with strings playing a widely spaced G-major chord very softly, at the limits of audibility. According to Ives, the string part represents "The Silence of the Druids—who Know, See and Hear Nothing".


Doubling

In a chord, a note that is duplicated in different octaves is said to be ''doubled''. (The term '' magadization'' is also used for vocal doubling at the octave, especially in reference to early music.) Doubling may also refer to a note or a melodic phrase that is duplicated at the same pitch, but played by different instruments. Melodic doubling in parallel (also called ''
parallel harmony In music, parallel harmony, also known as harmonic parallelism, harmonic planing or parallel voice leading, is the parallel movement of two or more melodies (see voice leading). Illustrative example Lines with parallel harmony can be viewed as ...
'') is the addition of a
rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...
ically similar or exact melodic line or lines at a fixed interval above or below the melody to create parallel movement. Octave doubling of a voice or pitch is a number of other voices duplicating the same part at the same pitch or at different octaves. The doubling number of an octave is the number of individual voices assigned to each pitch within the chord. For instance, in the opening of
John Philip Sousa John Philip Sousa ( ; November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932) was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known primarily for American military marches. He is known as "The March King" or the "American March King", to dis ...
's "
Washington Post March "The Washington Post" (often called "The Washington Post March") is a march composed by John Philip Sousa in 1889. Since then, it has remained as one of his most popular marches throughout the United States and many other countries. History ...
", the melody is "doubled" in four octaves. : Consistent parallelism between melodic lines can impede the independence of the lines. For example, in m. 38 of the
gigue The gigue (; ) or giga () is a lively baroque dance originating from the English jig. It was imported into France in the mid-17th centuryBellingham, Jane"gigue."''The Oxford Companion to Music''. Ed. Alison Latham. Oxford Music Online. 6 July 20 ...
from his ''English Suite'' No. 1 in A major, BWV 806,
J.S. Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wor ...
avoids excessive parallel harmony in order to maintain the independence of the lines: parallel thirds (at the beginning) and parallel sixths (at the end) are ''not'' maintained throughout the entire measure, and no interval is in parallel for more than four consecutive notes. : \new PianoStaff << \new Staff << \relative c' \addlyrics >> \new Staff << \relative c >> >> Consideration of doubling is important when following
voice leading Voice leading (or part writing) is the linear progression of individual melodic lines ( voices or parts) and their interaction with one another to create harmonies, typically in accordance with the principles of common-practice harmony and counte ...
rules and guidelines, for example when resolving to an
augmented sixth chord In music theory, an augmented sixth chord contains the interval of an augmented sixth, usually above its bass tone. This chord has its origins in the Renaissance, was further developed in the Baroque, and became a distinctive part of the musi ...
never double either notes of the augmented sixth, while in resolving an Italian sixth it is preferable to double the tonic (
third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...
of the chord). Some pitch material may be described as ''autonomous doubling'' in which the part being doubled is not followed for more than a few measures often resulting in disjunct motion in the part that is doubling, for example, the
trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...
part in Mozart's '' Don Giovanni''.


Doubling in orchestration


In unison

Instrumental doubling plays a crucial role in
orchestration Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orc ...
. Near the start of
Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
's Symphony No. 8 (the "Unfinished" Symphony), the oboe and clarinet play a theme together in
unison In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm. Definition Unison or per ...
, an "evocative and uncommon combination," "an embodiment of melancholy... over a nervous shimmer of semiquavers in the strings".


At the octave

The opening theme of the last movement of
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
's Piano Concerto No. 24 is played throughout by the violins, but selected phrases are doubled, firstly by the flute playing an octave above; followed by the bassoon an octave below. Finally the violin is joined by both oboe and bassoon together, creating a doubling spanning three octaves: The opening bars of the third movement of Janáček's Sinfonietta combine unison and octave doublings. The passage illustrates how subtle and carefully differentiated doubling can contribute to the sound of a delicate and nuanced orchestral texture: In these three bars, the Bass Clarinet and the Tuba simultaneously sound a sustained
pedal point In music, a pedal point (also pedal note, organ point, pedal tone, or pedal) is a sustained tone, typically in the bass, during which at least one foreign (i.e. dissonant) harmony is sounded in the other parts. A pedal point sometimes function ...
on a low E flat, creating a distinctive blend of
timbres In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voices and musica ...
. Similarly, the harp
arpeggios A broken chord is a chord broken into a sequence of notes. A broken chord may repeat some of the notes from the chord and span one or more octaves. An arpeggio () is a type of broken chord, in which the notes that compose a chord are played ...
are also doubled at the
unison In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm. Definition Unison or per ...
by the violas, while the first violins and ‘cellos double the main melody an octave apart.


Drop voicings

One nomenclature for describing certain classes of voicings is the "drop-n" terminology, such as ''drop-2 voicings'', ''drop-4 voicings'', etc. (sometimes spelled without hyphens). This system views voicings as built from the top down (probably from horn-section arranging where the melody is a given). The implicit, non-dropped, default voicing in this system has all voices in the same octave, with individual voices numbered from the top down. The highest voice is the first voice or voice 1. The second-highest voice is voice 2, etc. This nomenclature doesn't provide a term for more than one voice on the same pitch. A dropped voicing lowers one or more voices by an octave relative to the default state. Dropping the first voice is undefined—a drop-1 voicing would still have all voices in the same octave, simply making a new first voice. This nomenclature doesn't cover the dropping of voices by two or more octaves or having the same pitch in multiple octaves. A drop-2 voicing lowers the second voice by an octave. For example, a C-major triad has three "drop-2 voicings". Reading down from the top voice, they are C E G, E G C, and G C E, which can be heard as the voicings supporting the first three melody notes (following the introductory phrase) of the ''Super Mario Bros.'' video game theme. : There are four drop-2-and-4 voicings for G. Reading down from the top voice, they are G D F B, B F G D, D G B F, and F B D G. Various drop combinations are possible, given enough voices, such as drop-3, drop-2-and-3, drop-5, drop-2-and-5, drop-3-and-5, etc. : Drop voicings are often employed by
guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
ists, as the perfect fourth intervals between the guitar's strings typically make most close position chords cumbersome and impractical to play, particularly in
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
where complex extensions are commonplace. While
open chord In music for stringed instruments, especially guitar, an open chord (open-position chord) is a chord that includes one or more strings that are not fingered. An open string vibrates freely, whereas a fingered string will be partially dampened u ...
s are the most commonly employed voicings on the guitar and other fretted instruments for the volume and resonance they produce, the fingerings used for drop voicings on guitar are easily moved horizontally and vertically around the fingerboard, allowing more freedom for the guitarist to play chords in any key and in any area of the guitar's range, without the use of a capo. This facilitates easily playing chord progressions featuring
modulation In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform, called the ''carrier signal'', with a separate signal called the ''modulation signal'' that typically contains informatio ...
or chromatic movement between keys.


See also

* Blind octave *
Consecutive fifths In music, consecutive fifths or parallel fifths are progressions in which the interval (music), interval of a perfect fifth is followed by a ''different'' perfect fifth between the same two musical parts (or Melody, voices): for example, from ...
*
Open chord In music for stringed instruments, especially guitar, an open chord (open-position chord) is a chord that includes one or more strings that are not fingered. An open string vibrates freely, whereas a fingered string will be partially dampened u ...
* Partial voicing


Sources

Sources * *


External links


Drop 3 Chord Voicings and Examples for Jazz Guitar
{{Voicing (music)