Tonal harmony

[Soul Power]

So I took a diatonic harmony class this semester (ends next week) but due to the speed at which the class moves I feel as if there wasn't enough time to take what I learned and actually translate it to the two instruments I have access to (piano and my bass's). We have a four part composition due next week in which we are supposed to write sixteen measures (two periods, but not a double period) and everything I've been coming up with doesn't sound like convincing tonal harmony pieces.
So because of this, I'm resorting to just writing out the chords and embellishing it afterwards.
Since I am a grand novice of the piano, I have decided to take aspects of what Anthony Wellington has been teaching me on the bass, by finding every possible voicing I can.
First, a single root position triad. I have found that there are seven possible voicings that follow the conventions of what our book taught us.
Can anyone confirm Or debunk this for me?
Next, every possible way of connecting a root position I chord to a root position ii chord. I am still working on this.

Due to my lack of skill and familiarity with the piano( I have maybe 20 hours under my belt), it is very hard for me to come up with stuff that isn't stale. Can anyone recommend me some ideas? Even after this course ends, I will continue my studies since this genuinely interests me and I believe it's important for me to gain as much harmonic knowledge as possible.
I guess this is more to do with piano than bass, but I want it to cross over. I want to break out of the bubble where my writing (when it comes to this music) is based on the methods taught by the book.

[Snarf]

Don't worry about writing something "stale." In a beginning tonal harmony class, the point of writing a four voice 16 bar piece is to exercise your knowledge of very strict voice leading rules. Don't get creative with this, it's more of a math problem than a compositional challenge.

First of all, it's fine to start something like this on the root position I chord. But moving to a root position ii will sound kind of awkward. You need to really go over that book you have (assuming it's a decent one) and study how the voices move in order to achieve smooth movement and take advantage of inversions.

[MalcolmAmos]

This may point you in a direction.

YouTube - Simple Melody Harmonization (Keyboard Tut. #8)

Good luck.

[Soul Power]

Originally Posted by Snarf

Don't worry about writing something "stale." In a beginning tonal harmony class, the point of writing a four voice 16 bar piece is to exercise your knowledge of very strict voice leading rules. Don't get creative with this, it's more of a math problem than a compositional challenge.

First of all, it's fine to start something like this on the root position I chord. But moving to a root position ii will sound kind of awkward. You need to really go over that book you have (assuming it's a decent one) and study how the voices move in order to achieve smooth movement and take advantage of inversions.

Got it. I know how the voices move (tertian leap, common tone and stepwise, contrary to bass etc.) it's just hard for me to NOT want to get creative. It almost feels like a wasted opportunity to stretch out.

[the_stone]

Even though you want to be as creative as possible with your part-writing, your professor is probably going to want to see something that is boring, but also correct from a harmony/part-writing standpoint. My counterpoint teacher for my master's program would always say something along the lines of "for this class, I don't want to see creative and wrong - I want boring and right." Be careful with stepwise root-position harmony - that's a very easy way to wind up with parallel 5ths and octaves.

If you get stuck for ideas, keep in mind that most common-practice music follows similar tonal plans and phrase structures. Check out the examples in your textbook for ideas.

[BassChuck]

Originally Posted by Soul Power

Got it. I know how the voices move (tertian leap, common tone and stepwise, contrary to bass etc.) it's just hard for me to NOT want to get creative. It almost feels like a wasted opportunity to stretch out.

You're in a class to learn a specific skill. Do that. As for opportunities to 'stretch out'... make those opportunities yourself and fulfil the opportunity with your creativity. Not everything in music has to be a 'one great moment'. If you were paid $2000 to write a 15 spot to sell toothpaste, you'd not want to take on the memory of Mahler or Miles... just get the job done.

Remember, as you study music theory, form and analysis, part writing etc etc you're not studying how music IS made, you're studying how music WAS made. It's good study in all the great ideas of the past, many of them are still valid, some not, some can be changed, others combined. Its a food court of good ideas... take what you want and make of it what you will.

[Russell L]

Yes, go by what is being taught. Once in a theory class when my prof said that you cannot use parallel fourths and fifths, I blurted out, "Why not, I do it all the time."

"Mr. Lowery, if you would like your composition to sound like 18th century classical you must not use parallel fourths and fifths."

"Oh,... yeah, I see,... gotcha."

And I proceeded to slide under my desk. (Some of my rock and jazz buddies were giggling, though, LOL---what an outlandish comment, it was 1970).

[Beginner Bass]

I would make a piece that satisfies their requirments (Stale, sterile, boring, lifeless, etc.), then work on being creative.

[groooooove]

Originally Posted by Soul Power

Next, every possible way of connecting a root position I chord to a root position ii chord. I am still working on this.

did you learn about chords in inversion? while ii chords are very popular, they actually don't show up in a lot of choral music in root position. ii6 (first inversion) is probably the single most popular pre-dominant harmony. don't be set on writing a chain of root position chords- thats actually the wrong way to go about writing (what im assuming is) 4-part chorale style- it produces awful basslines.

what i would do is write 4 bar phrases, only the outer voices. come up with a convincing melody, and consider where and how you'd like it to end (ie, what cadence your leading up to). make sure to start with a root position triad with the root doubled, and end with a perfect authentic cadence, preferably with a candential 6/4 chord, your teacher would probably like that (and its a very musical way to end these pieces.)

writing your bassline is the hardest part. after you've got a melody, your bassline needs melodic integrity of its own, however needs to function properly- at the end of a phrase, while it may not be a "melodic" thing to do, your bass really should go do- fa - sol- do. (especially if this is for a class.) basslines sound the best when they have a nice balance of steps and skips, and generally move in contrary motion to your soprano melody. have harmonic function in mind, but be motivated and driven by the idea of a melody thats complimenting your other melody. sketch out under the staff the functions as your writing your bassline (Tonic, pre-dominant, and dominant.) then fill in what specific harmonies you want, then do your inner voices.

i dont know if im going beyond or not as far as your current knowledge, but i cant stress enough the importance of finishing outer voices before you even start to write inner voices. good luck

[Soul Power]

Well, I got an A on it. But I'm not satisfied with it....The semester is over and I got an A in the class, but I want to go further and make it even better.
Groooove, thanks-----Yeah none of that is over my head, and the certain requirements of the piece were many things (Pedal six four, cadential six four, two periods (not a double period though), apoggiaturas, neighboring groups, etc.)
I will post a more full reply tomorrow.