Voice leading

Voice leading is how each part moves from one chord to the next. This is where most marks are lost, and it is exactly what the Chorale Checker tests.

Doubling

With four parts and three-note chords, one note is doubled.

Chord	What to double
Major, root position	The root. Avoid doubling the 3rd.
Minor, root position	The root or the 3rd
First inversion	The root or the 5th. Never double a bass leading note.
6/4	The bass
vi after V	The 3rd (the tonic)

• Never double the leading note or a 7th.
• If a chord is incomplete, leave out only the 5th, never the 3rd.

Forbidden progressions

• Consecutive 5ths, octaves and unisons between any pair of parts. This includes compound intervals (a 12th to a 12th) and contrary motion (a 5th to a 12th).
• Hidden 5ths and octaves in the outer parts: soprano and bass move the same way into a 5th or octave with the soprano leaping.
• A diminished 5th to a perfect 5th involving the bass.
• Consecutives separated only by a passing note: most examiners still count them.

There are six pairs to check every time: S/A, S/T, S/B, A/T, A/B and T/B.

Tendency notes

• The leading note rises to the tonic in the soprano and bass, and at V to vi.
• At V to I, an inner-part leading note may fall to the 5th of the tonic chord.
• A leading note leaping away from the tonic, for example C#(A) up to F#, is an error.
• 7ths fall. Chromatically raised notes rise, lowered notes fall.
• The diminished 5th in vii° or V7 closes inwards.

Melodic lines

• No augmented intervals (augmented 2nds and 4ths).
• No diminished 5th leaps, unless the part falls and then turns back.
• No 7ths, and nothing larger than an octave.
• After a big leap, step back the other way.