Bach Chorales for AmusTCL Music Theory

BACH CHORALES for the AmusTCL

This PDF is aimed at anyone with an interest in writing solid four-part harmony, especially candidates taking exams such as the Trinity AmusTCL, which has an option to complete a chorale of roughly eight to ten bars in length.

A sound understanding of four-part SATB harmony will help you to compose or arrange pieces for ensembles of any type or size. The basic principles behind chord progressions, voice-leading, chord-note choice, modulation techniques and “grammatically correct” part-writing are transferrable to works of any size or genre.

At the end of the book you will find a selection of practice questions which you should do with the help of a piano while you are learning – it’s really important that you know the precise sound of whatever you are writing down in pencil.

Contents of the Book:

Chapter 1 – Notation Stems, Ties, Pauses, Vertical and Horizontal Alignment, Unisons and Seconds

Chapter 2 – Melody, Voice Ranges, Spacing, Part Writing, Leading notes

Chapter 3 – Rhythm, Note Values, Ties, Perpetuum Mobile

Chapter 4 – Harmony, Harmonic Vocabulary, Allowed Inversions, Doubling, Omissions, Harmonic Rhythm (Frequency of Chord Changes), Progressions, Choice of Inversions, Final Cadences, Intermediary Cadences, Added 7th chords, Rules about Consecutives (Parallels), Exposed (Hidden) 5ths and Octaves, Modulation

Chapter 5 – Decoration, Unaccented Passing Notes, Harmony Notes, Accented Passing Notes, Suspensions, Auxiliary notes

Chapter 6 – Tackling an Exam Question, The AmusTCL Question, Completing the Lower Parts, Inventing the Last Phrase

Chapter 7 – Exam Tips, How to Practise, Mistakes to Watch Out For, Getting Top Marks

Practice Questions (7)