4-part Writing
Tessitura
Alto
Tenor
Soprano
Bass
C4 - A5
G3 - C5
C3 - A4
E3 - C4
Wind instruments and voice
need to worry about high or low
tessituras while keyboards and
pitched percussion do not
Spacing and Doubling
Alto and Tenor need to be
within an octave of each other
There is no spacing rules for between Tenor and Bass
Soprano and Alto need to be
within an octave of each other
Double the root of the chord
Structure
Closed Structure
Open Structure
Upper three parts are written as close together as possible
One chordal tone is left unused between Soprano and Alto, and Alto and Tenor.
Bass has nothing to do with structure
Stems and Clef
Alto is written with down stems in treble clef
Tenor is written with up stems in bass clef
Soprano is written with up stems in treble clef
Bass is written with down stems in bass clef
Always Avoid...
Parallel perfect fifths and perfect octaves
Doubling the leading tone
Writing out of a voice's range
Melodic augmented seconds and augmented fourths
Try to Avoid...
Crossing voices
Exceeding an octave between Soprano and Alto, Alto and Tenor
Overlapping two adjacent voices more than a whole step
Move in the same direction to perfect intervals