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Learn Voice Leading and Chord Progressions

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~19 min

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17 questions

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Lesson Notes

Voice leading and chord progressions represent the horizontal dimension of harmony, governing how individual melodic lines (voices) move from one chord to the next and how chords are sequenced to create harmonic motion. Good voice leading ensures smooth, logical connections between chords by minimizing large leaps, avoiding parallel fifths and octaves, and resolving tendency tones appropriately.

This topic covers four-part (SATB) voice leading rules, common chord progressions and their functional logic, cadence types (authentic, half, plagal, deceptive), phrase structure including periods and sentences, non-chord tones (passing tones, neighbor tones, suspensions, appoggiaturas), secondary dominants and tonicization, borrowed chords (modal mixture), and chromatic harmony including Neapolitan and augmented sixth chords. These concepts span AP Music Theory Units 4-7.

Mastering voice leading transforms chord knowledge from static identification into dynamic musical thinking, enabling you to compose, arrange, and analyze music with professional-level harmonic understanding.

You'll be able to:

Apply four-part voice leading rules including resolution of tendency tones and avoidance of parallel fifths and octaves
Identify and compose authentic, half, plagal, and deceptive cadences
Analyze phrase structure including periods and sentences
Identify and classify all common non-chord tone types
Analyze secondary dominants and distinguish tonicization from modulation

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Key Concepts

Four-Part Voice Leading (SATB)

Writing for four voices (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) following rules that ensure smooth melodic motion in each part while maintaining proper harmonic intervals. Rules include avoiding parallel fifths and octaves, resolving leading tones upward, and keeping voices within their proper ranges.

Example: When moving from a V chord to a I chord, the leading tone (7th scale degree) in one voice should resolve up by step to the tonic, while the other voices move by the smallest possible intervals.

Cadence Types

Cadences are harmonic formulas that punctuate the end of phrases. Authentic cadences (V-I or V7-I) provide strong closure. Half cadences (ending on V) feel incomplete. Plagal cadences (IV-I) provide gentle closure. Deceptive cadences (V-vi) surprise the listener by resolving to vi instead of I.

Example: A phrase ending with G major to C major in the key of C is a perfect authentic cadence (PAC) if the soprano ends on the tonic and both chords are in root position.

Phrase Structure: Periods and Sentences

A phrase is a musical unit that ends with a cadence. A period consists of two phrases where the first (antecedent) ends with a weaker cadence and the second (consequent) ends with a stronger cadence. A sentence typically has a 2+2+4 bar structure with a basic idea, repetition, and continuation.

Example: A parallel period has an antecedent phrase ending on a half cadence (HC) and a consequent phrase beginning with similar melodic material but ending on a perfect authentic cadence (PAC).

Non-Chord Tones

Notes that are not members of the prevailing chord but provide melodic interest and embellishment. Types include passing tones (stepwise between chord tones), neighbor tones (step away and back), suspensions (held over and resolved down), appoggiaturas (approached by leap, resolved by step), and escape tones (approached by step, left by leap).

Example: In a C major chord (C-E-G), a D between C and E would be a passing tone. An F that resolves down to E would be a suspension (if it was held over from the previous chord) or an appoggiatura (if it was approached by leap).

Secondary Dominants

A secondary dominant is a chord that functions as the dominant (V) of a diatonic chord other than the tonic. It temporarily tonicizes that chord by applying chromatic alteration. Written as V/x where x is the chord being tonicized.

Example: In C major, V/V = D major (D-F#-A), which is the dominant of G (V). The F# is chromatic and creates a leading-tone pull to G, briefly making G sound like a temporary tonic.

Tonicization vs. Modulation

Tonicization is a brief, temporary emphasis on a non-tonic chord using a secondary dominant, lasting only a beat or two. Modulation is a more permanent key change that establishes a new tonic through a cadence in the new key.

Example: A V/V followed immediately by V and then I is tonicization (brief visit to the dominant key). A passage that cadences in the new key and stays there for several phrases is modulation.

Modal Mixture (Borrowed Chords)

Modal mixture involves borrowing chords from the parallel major or minor key. In a major key, the most common borrowed chords come from the parallel minor: bVI, bVII, iv, and ii-dim. These add color and emotional depth without fully modulating.

Example: In C major, using an Ab major chord (bVI, borrowed from C minor) creates a dramatic, darker sound. The Beatles frequently used bVII (Bb major in C) for a characteristic rock sound.

Neapolitan and Augmented Sixth Chords

The Neapolitan chord (N6 or bII6) is a major triad built on the lowered second degree, typically in first inversion, functioning as a predominant. Augmented sixth chords (Italian, French, German) contain an augmented sixth interval that resolves outward to the dominant.

Example: In C minor, the Neapolitan chord is Db major in first inversion (F-Ab-Db), resolving to V (G). The Italian augmented sixth in C minor = Ab-C-F#, where Ab-F# is the augmented 6th interval that resolves outward to G-G (octave on V).

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