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Consecutive fifths
In music, consecutive fifths or parallel fifths are progressions in which the interval of a perfect fifth is followed by a different perfect fifth between the same two musical parts (or voices): for example, from C to D in one part along with G to A in a higher part. Octave displacement is irrelevant to this aspect of musical grammar; for example, a parallel twelfth (i.e., an octave plus a fifth) is equivalent to a parallel fifth.
Parallel fifths are used in, and are evocative of, many musical genres, such as various kinds of Western folk and medieval music, as well as popular genres like rock music. However, parallel motion of perfect consonances (P1, P5, P8) is strictly forbidden in species counterpoint instruction (1725–present), and during the common practice period, consecutive fifths were strongly discouraged. This was primarily due to the notion of voice leading in tonal music, in which "one of the basic goals ... is to maintain the relative independence of the individual parts."
A common theory[citation needed] is that the presence of the 3rd harmonic of the harmonic series influenced the creation of the prohibition.[clarification needed]
Singing in consecutive fifths may have originated from the accidental singing of a chant a perfect fifth above (or a perfect fourth below) the proper pitch.[citation needed] Whatever its origin, singing in parallel fifths became commonplace in early organum and conductus styles. Around 1300, Johannes de Garlandia became the first theorist to prohibit the practice. However, parallel fifths were still common in 14th-century music. The early 15th-century composer Leonel Power likewise forbade the motion of "2 acordis perfite of one kynde, as 2 unisouns, 2 5ths, 2 8ths, 2 12ths, 2 15ths", and it is with the transition to Renaissance-style counterpoint that the use of parallel perfect consonances was consistently avoided in practice. The convention dates approximately from 1450. Composers avoided writing consecutive fifths between two independent parts, such as tenor and bass lines.
Consecutive fifths were usually considered forbidden, even if disguised (such as in a "horn fifth") or broken up by an intervening note (such as the mediant in a triad).[clarification needed] The interval may form part of a chord of any number of notes, and may be set well apart from the rest of the harmony, or finely interwoven in its midst. But the interval was always to be quit [followed?] by any movement that did not land on another fifth.
The prohibition concerning fifths did not just apply to perfect fifths. Some theorists also objected to the progression from a perfect fifth to a diminished fifth in parallel motion; for example, the progression from C and G to B and F (B and F forming a diminished fifth).
"The reason for avoiding parallel 5ths and 8ves has to do with the nature of counterpoint. The P8 and P5 are the most stable of intervals, and to link two voices through parallel motion at such intervals interferes with their independence much more than would parallel motion at 3rds or 6ths." "Since the octave really represents a repetition of the same tone in a different register, if two or more octaves occur in succession, the result is a reduction in the number of voices; for example, in a two-voice setting, one of the voices would temporarily disappear, and along with it the rationale of the intended two-voice setting. The octave acts merely as a doubling; if, in a particular instance, it is not intended to act as such, this must be sufficiently emphasized by what precedes and follows it. But even the succession of two octaves brings the sense of doubling into the foreground. Of course, this must not be confused with an intentional doubling used to strengthen sonority, for which, however, strict counterpoint offers no motivation." Similarly, "Parallel 8ves...reduce the number of voices...since the voice that [momentarily] doubles at the 8ve...is not an independent voice but merely a duplication. Parallel 8ves...may also confuse the functions of the voices...If the upper voice succession...is merely a duplication of the bass, then the actual soprano must be...the alto voice. This interpretation of course, makes no sense, for it turns the texture inside out." "Parallel 5ths are avoided because the 5th, formed by scale degrees 1 and 5, is the primary harmonic interval, the interval that divides the scale and thus defines the key. The direct succession of two 5ths raises doubt concerning the key."
The identification and avoidance of perfect fifths in the instruction of counterpoint and harmony helps to distinguish the more formal idiom of classical music from popular and folk musics, in which consecutive fifths commonly appear in the form of double tonics and shifts of level. The prohibition of consecutive fifths in European classical music originates not only from the requirement for contrary motion in counterpoint but also from a gradual and eventually self-conscious attempt to distance classical music from folk traditions. As Sir Donald Tovey explains in his discussion of Joseph Haydn's Symphony no. 88, "The trio is one of Haydn's finest pieces of rustic dance music, with hurdy-gurdy drones which shift in disregard of the rule forbidding consecutive fifths. The disregard is justified by the fact that the essential objection to consecutive fifths is that they produce the effect of shifting hurdy-gurdy drones." A more contemporary example would be guitar power chords.
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Consecutive fifths
In music, consecutive fifths or parallel fifths are progressions in which the interval of a perfect fifth is followed by a different perfect fifth between the same two musical parts (or voices): for example, from C to D in one part along with G to A in a higher part. Octave displacement is irrelevant to this aspect of musical grammar; for example, a parallel twelfth (i.e., an octave plus a fifth) is equivalent to a parallel fifth.
Parallel fifths are used in, and are evocative of, many musical genres, such as various kinds of Western folk and medieval music, as well as popular genres like rock music. However, parallel motion of perfect consonances (P1, P5, P8) is strictly forbidden in species counterpoint instruction (1725–present), and during the common practice period, consecutive fifths were strongly discouraged. This was primarily due to the notion of voice leading in tonal music, in which "one of the basic goals ... is to maintain the relative independence of the individual parts."
A common theory[citation needed] is that the presence of the 3rd harmonic of the harmonic series influenced the creation of the prohibition.[clarification needed]
Singing in consecutive fifths may have originated from the accidental singing of a chant a perfect fifth above (or a perfect fourth below) the proper pitch.[citation needed] Whatever its origin, singing in parallel fifths became commonplace in early organum and conductus styles. Around 1300, Johannes de Garlandia became the first theorist to prohibit the practice. However, parallel fifths were still common in 14th-century music. The early 15th-century composer Leonel Power likewise forbade the motion of "2 acordis perfite of one kynde, as 2 unisouns, 2 5ths, 2 8ths, 2 12ths, 2 15ths", and it is with the transition to Renaissance-style counterpoint that the use of parallel perfect consonances was consistently avoided in practice. The convention dates approximately from 1450. Composers avoided writing consecutive fifths between two independent parts, such as tenor and bass lines.
Consecutive fifths were usually considered forbidden, even if disguised (such as in a "horn fifth") or broken up by an intervening note (such as the mediant in a triad).[clarification needed] The interval may form part of a chord of any number of notes, and may be set well apart from the rest of the harmony, or finely interwoven in its midst. But the interval was always to be quit [followed?] by any movement that did not land on another fifth.
The prohibition concerning fifths did not just apply to perfect fifths. Some theorists also objected to the progression from a perfect fifth to a diminished fifth in parallel motion; for example, the progression from C and G to B and F (B and F forming a diminished fifth).
"The reason for avoiding parallel 5ths and 8ves has to do with the nature of counterpoint. The P8 and P5 are the most stable of intervals, and to link two voices through parallel motion at such intervals interferes with their independence much more than would parallel motion at 3rds or 6ths." "Since the octave really represents a repetition of the same tone in a different register, if two or more octaves occur in succession, the result is a reduction in the number of voices; for example, in a two-voice setting, one of the voices would temporarily disappear, and along with it the rationale of the intended two-voice setting. The octave acts merely as a doubling; if, in a particular instance, it is not intended to act as such, this must be sufficiently emphasized by what precedes and follows it. But even the succession of two octaves brings the sense of doubling into the foreground. Of course, this must not be confused with an intentional doubling used to strengthen sonority, for which, however, strict counterpoint offers no motivation." Similarly, "Parallel 8ves...reduce the number of voices...since the voice that [momentarily] doubles at the 8ve...is not an independent voice but merely a duplication. Parallel 8ves...may also confuse the functions of the voices...If the upper voice succession...is merely a duplication of the bass, then the actual soprano must be...the alto voice. This interpretation of course, makes no sense, for it turns the texture inside out." "Parallel 5ths are avoided because the 5th, formed by scale degrees 1 and 5, is the primary harmonic interval, the interval that divides the scale and thus defines the key. The direct succession of two 5ths raises doubt concerning the key."
The identification and avoidance of perfect fifths in the instruction of counterpoint and harmony helps to distinguish the more formal idiom of classical music from popular and folk musics, in which consecutive fifths commonly appear in the form of double tonics and shifts of level. The prohibition of consecutive fifths in European classical music originates not only from the requirement for contrary motion in counterpoint but also from a gradual and eventually self-conscious attempt to distance classical music from folk traditions. As Sir Donald Tovey explains in his discussion of Joseph Haydn's Symphony no. 88, "The trio is one of Haydn's finest pieces of rustic dance music, with hurdy-gurdy drones which shift in disregard of the rule forbidding consecutive fifths. The disregard is justified by the fact that the essential objection to consecutive fifths is that they produce the effect of shifting hurdy-gurdy drones." A more contemporary example would be guitar power chords.