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What are the 4 types of harmony?

The four main voices are typically labelled as soprano (or treble and countertenor), alto (contralto, countertenor or mezzo), tenor, and bass. Because the human voice has a limited range, different voice types are usually not able to sing pitches that lie outside of their specific range.

en.wikipedia.org - Four-part harmony - Wikipedia
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Music written for four voices or instruments

The term "four-part harmony" refers to music written for four voices, or for some other musical medium—four musical instruments or a single keyboard instrument, for example—for which the various musical parts can give a different note for each chord of the music. The four main voices are typically labelled as soprano (or treble and countertenor),[2] alto (contralto, countertenor or mezzo), tenor, and bass. Because the human voice has a limited range, different voice types are usually not able to sing pitches that lie outside of their specific range.[3] The effort required to perform four-part harmony varies greatly. Pieces written in such a style can be usually executed by a single keyboard player, a group of 4 instruments (or singers), or even a large choir with multiple singers per part.

In European classical music [ edit ]

In the baroque era, a set of rules developed for voice leading in four-part harmony. In these rules, the bass voice would be assigned the root of the chord, although it can occasionally be assigned the fifth or the third. If the chord is a triad, the root is generally doubled by one of the other voices. When two voices are harmonized in perfect intervals (fourths, fifths and octaves), repeats of the same interval between the two voices (also known as moving in parallels) are almost always avoided. Another rule concerns perfect cadences. In such cadences, the leading tone (the seventh scale degree) must resolve step-wise to the tonic. That is, the voice that plays the leading tone must resolve up to the tonic, and if the chord is a dominant seventh chord, the subdominant should resolve to the mediant. Another concern of four-part writing is tessitura. Since the music is usually written for four-part choirs, each part should be able to be sung by the appropriate section of the choir, thus it should remain in the appropriate pitch range. As well as that, each voice should be easy to sing, meaning that large intervals within the same voice are to be avoided, instead favoring step-wise motion. Voices should also not overlap: the pitch sung by the alto should not be higher than that of the soprano, and so on for the other voices. Voices should also remain suitably close to each other, usually within an octave of each adjacent voice, except for the bass. These rules were generally followed during the common practice period. Nowadays, they are usually taught in music theory classes, but most compositions follow less strict rules, if not outright disregarding them.[4][5][6]

See also [ edit ]

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What music genre makes you confident?

According to a new study led by Dennis Y. Hsu, a professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, bass-heavy music can make you more confident.

businessinsider.com - Science Says Heavy Metal Will Make You Better At Your Job

Before you ask your boss for a raise or that cute colleague on a date, you may want to turn up the bass. According to a new study led by Dennis Y. Hsu, a professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, bass-heavy music can make you more confident. "The effect of music appears to manifest itself not only in its ability to entertain," he and his colleagues write, "but also in the ability to imbue humans with a real sense of power." As Tom Jacobs notes at Pacific Standard, writers like Henry David Thoreau and George Eliot have noted how fiery music can stoke you into action, but the new research lends empirical evidence.

Jacobs summarizes one such experiment:

... 78 undergraduates listened to an original, two-minute-long piece of instrumental music in one of two conditions: With the bass line prominent or subdued. Afterwards, they "rated how powerful, dominant, and determined they felt," as well as how strongly they were feeling three positive emotions (happiness, excitement, and enthusiasm). The result: People who heard the heavy bass line felt more powerful, dominant, and determined than their easy-listening peers. Why? Researchers chalked it up to the associations we have between deep sounds and authority, calling out how James Earl Jones sounded when he voiced Darth Vader in "Star Wars." Similarly, CEOs with deep voices make more money. This connection extends to whatever summer jam you have pumping through your headphones. "People can hear specific music components that express a sense of power and mimic those feelings internally," the study authors write. If you have any recommendations for what to listen to — aside from Black Sabbath on repeat — tell us in the comments.

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