Students should be given a wide range of opportunities to build on the knowledge and awareness of harmony gained in Unit 3 Section C through the medium of pastiche studies. They should learn the harmonic, tonal and other musical features, conventions and procedures of the style through study of appropriate repertoire. They must then practise working in their chosen style by completing appropriate passages of music.
Students must learn how to harmonise a chorale in the manner of J.S. Bach, by adding alto, tenor and bass parts to a given soprano in 4/4 time. Building on the harmonic vocabulary required for Unit 3, Section C, they need to be familiar with triads in root position and first inversion, the tonic triad in second inversion in contexts where Bach would have used it, seventh chords and inversions typical of Bach’s style. They must also learn about other harmonic and voice-leading features and procedures typical of Bach’s style, including modulation to closely-related keys, passing notes, and suspensions.
Candidates must harmonise, in the manner of J.S. Bach, a chorale (or a passage from or in the style of a chorale), by adding alto, tenor and bass parts to a given soprano. The music to be added will normally be between 8 and 10 bars long. Modal chorales, and chorales in 3/4 time, will not be set.
Students must learn how to complete a two-part texture (without lyrics) from a popular song in ballad song style, with a lyrical melody, regular chord changes of one or more per bar, and modulation(s). They must know both how to add a melody part in passage(s) where the bass and chord symbols are given, and also how to supply the bass part and chord symbols where the melody part is given. The harmonic vocabulary expected will include triads, seventh chords (dominant, minor, major, diminished and half-diminished), and their inversions, simple added-note chords (such as C6) and sus. chords, and a knowledge of modulation is required. Students must be familiar with the necessary structural conventions (verse, chorus, pre-chorus, middle section).
Candidates must complete a popular song or an extract from one. The opening of the melody part (without lyrics) and the bass part (with chord symbols — eg E7, Gm) will be given. Candidates must add the melody part in passage(s) where the bass and chord symbols are given, and the bass part and chord symbols where the melody part is given. The music to be added will normally be between 18 and 20 bars long and may feature any or all of the following: verse, chorus, pre-chorus, middle section. The extract will be in ballad song style, with a lyrical melody and regular chord changes of one or more per bar, and will include modulation(s).