Week 2: Horizontal and Vertical Voicing

Andrew Good work - and beautiful choice, I really like this transcription. I hear the alto line is often too loud when it moves closer to soprano (eg., listen closely to your first few notes: the soprano C is immediately interrupted by the C an octave below). This is oblique motion: soprano melody is still, alto line moves beneath (softer). 

@Jarred Dunn Thank you Jarred! I do absolutely hear that lower C sounding the same volume as the upper C (may be my thumb being too strong?) Will work on that. Do you have any advice on how to manage/alter left hand chords that are too huge for my fingers to span? (Circled in red in photos below) Appreciate it!

Andrew great question! Please, if you could, make a video on vertical view of your LH playing these chords arpeggiated and I can answer that. I need to see how you’re playing them and what your span is to make any recommendations.

Jarred Dunn https://youtu.be/e6H29UG68N4?si=Dq0kX3M3Ddi55kyV

appreciate it! I’m assuming the top note of these chords are part of the middle voice so they are important? 

Andrew thanks for this video, it appears you seem to have an octave span, perhaps a ninth, before it’s too stretchy and your hand will lock. Play the lowest three notes of the chord and then add the highest note discretely afterward. Let’s try that first and see what happens. 

Jarred Dunn thank you for your feedback! By “discretely”, are you suggesting playing the highest note with the RH’s 2nd/4th 16th note in a relatively low percentage? Or something else? 

Thank you!

Andrew play it discretely with LH thumb 5 (low percentage of sound)

Jarred Dunn https://youtube.com/shorts/Bpi0Eyeiitg?si=tLt-hR-bKHz-e2Ea

something like this? 

Gloria good work with sophisticated voicing proportions. I would suggest voicing the last chords (fa-mi-re-do soprano) with more sound on the soprano: the alto is in character but the soprano needs a bit more substance to convincingly sing its way to the last chord. Bass line descending into phrase 2 (0:19) starts clearly but ends without a taper: consider using a diminuendo at the end of that line to start the next phrase. 

Jarred Dunn 

thank you very much . I will practice that . 
would you suggest using the pedal ? Can I use una corda to change the tone colour? 

Gloria pedal can be used if it is not heard to be used. I wouldn’t use UC unless it’s a really special moment and the sound retains its intensity. Too often UC means the sound loses resonance and colour.

Jarred Dunn  

thank you for your help.😊

Kerstin this is the precisely the kind of practice that leads to solid horizontal voicing. Good work! Soprano (as you probably hear already) is a bit heavy at 0:21-25, where the alto chromaticism is at its zenith. A textural idea: sixteenths could be lighter than eighths to clarify the voicing during fast harmonic rhythm. 

Kerstin beautiful! Can hear all the voices moving!

Jarred Dunn Yes, thanks. To bring out the chromatic line, I have decided a little bit later. 😊

Andrew Thank you!

Andrea Buckland it’s always good to study the outline this way. Progressively adding chords helps us hear the texture and make choices about what to voice prominently and what to do with supporting lines. Yes, in the final product you still want to hear the structural notes (often these are the most riveting).

Kerstin Beautifully sung!

Juan Carlos Olite Thank you!