How the Chorale Checker marks your work

The Chorale Checker marks your harmonisation the way a strict examiner would. Knowing how it works helps you use it well, and helps you mark your own work.

Two kinds of checking

Mechanical checks are done by code, the same way every time. The code looks at every chord and every pair of parts and finds:

• consecutive 5ths and octaves in all six pairs, including compound intervals and contrary motion;
• consecutives across a passing note;
• hidden 5ths and octaves in the outer parts;
• a diminished 5th moving to a perfect 5th with the bass;
• doubled leading notes, and leading notes that do not rise;
• notes outside each part's range, spacing wider than an octave, and parts crossing;
• awkward melodic leaps: augmented 2nds, tritones, 7ths, and anything over an octave.

Judgement checks need a musician's reading of the music, so they are explained rather than calculated:

• cadences: type, root position, approach chord and key;
• chord labels, especially after a modulation;
• 6/4 chords, 7ths and suspensions;
• same chord weak to strong, retrogressions, static harmony, and iii or root-position vii° outside their idioms;
• the quality of the bass line.

How serious is it?

Level	Meaning	Examples
Error	Wrong in any exam	Consecutive 5ths or octaves, doubled leading note, wrong 6/4 use, inverted cadence chord, range violation, augmented melodic interval
Weakness	Some examiners penalise it	Hidden outer 5ths or octaves, diminished 5th to perfect 5th with the bass, consecutives across a passing note, unprepared suspension
Style	Correct but could be better	Static harmony, iii outside its idiom, plain I, IV and V harmony, a blocky bass, mislabelled chords

Findings the code is unsure about are marked Check: for example an inner-part leading note that falls, which is fine at V to I but not elsewhere.

Fixes are checked too

For every error, the checker suggests the smallest change that fixes it, usually one or two notes or one inversion. Before you see a fix, it is run back through the mechanical checks. A fix that creates a new error is never shown.

Why you confirm the reading first

When the checker reads a photo of handwritten work, one misread note can produce errors that are not really there. So you check its transcription first and correct anything it got wrong. The feedback is only as good as the reading.

The teacher has the final word

The Chorale Checker is a practice and feedback tool. It does not replace your teacher, and your teacher's judgement is final.