Voices

For most ear players music is a combination of melody and harmony. Popular pieces, folk tunes, and the usual light numbers actually are nothing more than this; but almost without exception the masterworks gain their effect from the addition of polyphony—poly, many; phone, voice—many voices going on at one time. Voice, of course, refers to any melodic line played by separate instru­ments or on the piano. Sometimes the second voice will be a mere scale; sometimes it will be as important a melody as the main voice. It may have been written at the same time, or it may have been added years after the composition was com­pleted. In the masterworks, however, the polyphony is most certainly not an added part but is the very substance of the composition. A fugue, for example, has no principal melody or harmony except what results from the many voices which constitute the composition. The varied nature of polyphony will best be seen by playing various examples of it.

Vertical Playing

Some ear players hear polyphony from the very first; others must develop an ear for it, since they habitually listen to only the main tune. Indeed, ear players might be divided into two classes: those who hear the music vertically, and those who hear it horizontally. The first is the more common type; he hears a melody and the chords hang on that melody. He finds the melody tone, and from that he figures out the chord. This book has been arranged with this type in mind; and up to this chapter it has developed only this kind of playing.

Horizontal Playing

The second type does not hear the chords in relation to the melody but rather hears the progression of each voice separately. He hears the next note that is going to follow the bass note in the same way that he hears the next note in the melody; and the same is true of the inner parts. For him the chords are merely the result of the many voices or parts.

Polyphonic Motion

Obviously, polyphony demands much more of the ear than does the harmonic type of music. In harmonic composition one may pause on a melody note and listen for the chord that goes with that note; in polyphony one must keep in motion or he loses the feeling of the direction of the voices.

The note player here seems to have an enormous advantage; he can pause, and the notes on the page will tell him where to go next. But this seeming advantage is actually a serious handicap; for the note player figures out the next notes by looking at them and does not listen to them. As a result, polyphonic compositions are generally played like machines, and both player and listener are bored with the result. Some­one has defined a fugue as "a composition in which the voices enter one by one and the audience leaves one by one."

This unpopularity of polyphonic music is the result of its being learned from notes and with a dead ear. If any note player thinks he has escaped the deadening effect of notation upon polyphony, let him. try to hum one of the inner or lower voices as he is playing some polyphonic number; he will do well if he can even trace the line.

The ear player is in no danger of this sterile production. His progress with polyphony may be slow, but it is genuine. He cannot play the piece unless he hears it. If he hears it, he has the feeling the composer put into the composition and will soon realize that the greatest experience to be had in the art of music lies in the field of polyphony.

Polyphony developed centuries before harmony made its appearance. In its long history many different types have developed, all of which are in use at the present time.       *

Counterpoint

Counterpoint—counter, against; point, note—is literally a voice which is written against another voice which has already been composed. If you take America and play a running bass part against it, as Weber does in the Jubilee Overture, you will have a good example of counterpoint—a part written against the main tune. Try inventing such a part to America or any other tune that may strike you as being suitable; you can play it in octaves or as a single melody. Generally such a part moves scalewise, but it may skip if the skips do not destroy the feeling of continuity. A good example is in the refrain of Adeste Fideles. This begins with the soprano singing, "O come, let us adore him"; then the soprano, alto, and tenor repeat the same phrase; then, as they repeat it a third time, the bass enters and walks right down the scale, thus providing a powerful counterpoint and making the climax of the hymn tune.

In popular usage, however, the term "counterpoint" is interchangeable with "polyphony."

Round

The round was one of the earliest forms of polyphony to develop and is one which is easy to play. It is a tune which is sung against itself, one voice entering after the original voice has begun and each returning to the beginning as soon as it reaches the end. It continues thus, round and round, until the singers are exhausted or an agreement to stop is reached. A familiar example of this is Row, Row, Row Your Boat. Try playing it with just the first and second voices; then with the first and third; then with the first and fourth; then with the first, second, and third; and finally with all four. The follow­ing arrangement of words will show where to enter the several voices.

1st	Row,	Row,	row your boat
1st 2nd	Gently Row,	down the row,	stream; row your boat
1st 2nd 3rd	Merrily, Gently Row,	merrily, down the row,	merrily, merrily, stream; row your boat
1st 2nd 3rd 4th	Life is Merrily, Gently Row,	but a merrily, down the row,	dream, merrily, merrily, stream; row your boat
1st 2nd 3rd 4th	Row, Life is Merrily, Gently	row, but a merrily, down the	row your boat dream, merrily, merrily, stream;
1st 2nd 3rd 4th	Gently Row, Life is Merrily	down the row, but a merrily,	stream; row your boat dream merrily, merrily
1st 2nd 3rd 4th	Merrily, Gendy Row, Life is	merrily, down the row, but a	merrily, merrily, stream; row your boat dream.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th	Life is Merrily, Gently Row,	but a merrily, down the row,	dream. merrily, merrily, stream; row your boat

etc.

This is not a very high type of composition. It does develop the ability to think and hear more than one part at a time, but only if you are responsible for all the parts. You may prefer to play one part and sing another. When we play for a group singing a round, we play just basic chords as a background. These are never complex, usually consisting of V and I.

Canon

The canon is a form very similar to the round; but it is as serious as the round is frivolous. A canon is like a game of stump-the-leader; one part starts out and the other follows immediately, imitating exactly everything the first voice does. Unlike the round, it is for only two voices and never returns to the beginning. This gives the composer more latitude and provides a fascination for the player or listener that is irresistible, if he can follow the canon.

Bach and Franck have provided us with the most familiar canons. Panis Angelicus by Franck has a canon played by the violin with the second chorus. It is easy to follow and easy to play. Get the recording for solo voice and violin, if you do not know the number; you will enjoy working it out.

The Franck sonata for violin and piano also has a fine canon at the beginning of the last movement. Here the piano begins the melody, and the violin repeats it one measure later. Next, the violin begins the same melody and the piano trails one measure later. Again it comes in the left hand of the piano and is followed by the violin an octave higher. As if this were not enough, Franck uses an entirely different canon in this movement—a figure of four descending notes which mounts up to a great climax and finally forms the coda of the sonata. In this last canon the violin follows only two notes after the piano, thus increasing the feeling of tension and excitement. This recording is well worth buying, if only to study the canon; the harmonies are too complex to be worked out at this time. The number is one of the great violin-piano sonatas in all literature.

Obbligato

A much more popular type of polyphony is the obbligato— a melodious part added to a composition that is complete without it. Thus the popular Bach-Gounod Ave Maria is a melody, and a rather sentimental one, which Gounod super­imposed upon Bach's prelude to the first fugue in the Well-Tempered Clavichord over a century after the composer's death. You can easily work this out by ear, if you have opportunity to hear it often. You may prefer to get the recording of the prelude without the elaboration by Gounod. If you work this out in the manner in which Bach wrote it, you will probably be righteously outraged when you hear the sentimental obbligato.

A nicer example is the piccolo obbligato which accompanies the second chorus of Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever. Sousa was fond of having all the players in his piccolo section march to the front of the stage for this passage, thus making the obbligato stand out in strong contrast to the familiar melody. Although this is not a complicated obbligato, it is difficult to render on the piano unless the player has three hands. You might try whistling it, while you play the remaining instru­mentation on the keyboard.

An amusing variation of the obbligato was discovered in connection with Dvorak's Humoresque. The first phrase of Swanee River can be played simultaneously with the first phrase of Humoresque. Take Swanee River rather slowly; four notes of Humoresque are played to the first note of the song. Try it.

Counter or Tenor

A near relative of the obbligato is the counter, or tenor, which is such a favorite in our barbershop quartets and home­brewed music. The part is built by taking some tones out of the harmony and placing them in a conspicuous position above the other parts, thus forming an obbligato line. In the old days of the silent movie, when the organ kept the movie from being too silent, the organists had a saying that the best countermelody could be found by placing all the accidentals in the countermelody. There is much truth at the foundation of this principle, for the accidentals are frequently the strong color tones which make the most effective obbligato. In orchestration, the French horn, with its tone quality so suitable for a contrapuntal line, is given more than its share of these sharped and flatted tones.

The best piece for practice in this respect still remains the long-suffering Sweet Adeline. You will not be able to discover any new counters—they were all discovered by our grand­parents, but you can get some good practice rediscovering some of them.

Descant

When these counters or obbligatos are applied to church hymns, they are called descants. It is very difficult to compose a good descant; but you can doubtless construct some as good as most of those in use.

Pedal Point—Organ Point

The pedal point is a single note and not a melody, but it belongs here, because it requires us to hear two lines at one time, even though one of the lines is standing still. It is also called organ point and refers to any tone that is held through harmonies which do not contain it. The organist usually holds it with one of the pedals, though it does not have to be held continuously, if it is repeated with sufficient frequency to make its presence continuously felt.

A fine example is the Brahms Lullaby, which strikes the tonic in the bass at the beginning of every measure in the piece. Often it is written and played without this pedal point—which merely proves the stupidity of the arranger. This bass tone is very easy to put in and was probably placed there to give the quiet monotony desired in a cradle song. Try it and hear for yourself. Another good example occurs in the middle and again at the end of the Moonlight Sonata. The device is very common in the works of the masters and it is easy to play if the ear catches it.

Ground Bass

An elaboration of the pedal point is the basso ostinato or ground ba?s. This involves a melody or figuration that is repeated over and over while the music is built above it. Boogie-woogie is a popular adaptation of this device. On the other hand, some of the noblest compositions ever conceived by man have been built on a ground bass. Two examples are outstanding: the Passacaglia in C Minor by Bach and the finale of the Variations on a Theme by Haydn by Brahms. Hear these and listen to the constantly repeated bass figure, slowly but irresistibly moving onward; you will gain new insight into the power of music. You may pick up parts of the Brahms by ear.

These various types of polyphony are interesting to study and profitable to practice, but the great power of polyphony lies not in these specific types but in the general tension which is created by the power and pull of any melodic tendencies woven into such an intricate web that it is impossible to say where one begins or ends. Polyphony is not a trifling orna­ment added to the music after its main structure is conceived; it is the music itself, more than any other one element. Nevertheless, it is the element most frequently missed by the music lover.

Unmusical cynics say that the pleasure in polyphony exists for the player but not for the listener. This is frequently true. No one plays polyphonic music unless he enjoys it, but many a concertgoer, who has come to hear some sentimental melodies or to watch the flashing technique, is compelled to sit through a polyphonic masterwork which is entirely beyond his comprehension. Anyone, however, who is able to appreciate all types of music will enthusiastically acclaim the masters of polyphonic writing.

The Feeling of Polyphony

Nevertheless, there certainly is an added incentive for the performer. The thrill of being able to keep several lines of melodic thought going at one time, often without being conscious of just what fingers or even which hand is pro­ducing them, and the feeling of well-organized muscular patterns in orderly execution with their strength carefully distributed, combine with the power of the music itself to produce what is probably the most exalted esthetic experience man can have.

Nor is it only the flawless performance of the great master-works of polyphony which provides this thrill. A little Bach Invention, played with understanding, gives its own reward. Indeed, the extent to which a person can appreciate polyph­ony is the best index of his enjoyment of music.

Ear playing is traditionally looked down upon by the better teachers and performers who use notation, because ear players seldom develop an ability to play polyphonic music. Thus the works of the best composers are closed to them. If they do attempt these works, they play only the melody and harmony, ignoring the polyphony which is the heart of the composition—the very thing which makes it great. There is no justification for this except the lack of understanding or ambition on the part of the ear players.

Everyone who is seriously interested in playing music has been told he must engage a teacher and learn to play by notes. This prejudice is without foundation. If the ear player is seriously interested in the finer music, he can develop his ear in such a manner that it will provide the judgment necessary to tell the fingers what to do. If the road is difficult, it is only because we pedagogues have had less experience in teaching students to play by ear and do not know all the short-cuts. In any case, the ear player is in no danger of the curse, almost universal among note players, of becoming primarily a note player and incidentally a musician. Whatever the ear player plays, he will hear; it will be a living part of his musical culture.

As a first step toward acquiring facility in this most fasci­nating of all the powers of music, learn a Bach Invention. The easiest and most natural way to learn it is by means of the units the composer used in writing it. To a certain extent the composer figured them out; to a certain extent he just heard them. Your best procedure is to figure them out and to hear them in that same proportion. To help you to do this, the whole of the Bach Two-Part Invention in F Major is outlined in the next chapter.

Rounds

	first note
Row, Row, Row Your Boat	1
Three Blind Mice	3
Scotland's Burning	5
Reuben and Rachel	1
Are You Sleeping	1
The Bell Doth Toll	5
Merrily, Merrily, Greet the Morn	1

Pieces for Practice in Polyphony

	original key
Traumerei (SCHUMANN)	F
Sextet from Lucia (DONIZETTI)	D
Who is Sylvia? (SCHUBERT)	A
Hark, Hark, the Lark (SCHUBERT)	C
Dearth and the Maiden (SCHUBERT)	D minor
The Wanderer (SCHUBERT)	C# minor
The Erl-King (SCHUBERT)	G minor
Air for the G string (BACH)	C

WHAT TO DO Listen to polyphony. Play rounds. Make up a countermelody to some familiar tune. Play it above and also below the main melody. Add contrapuntal phrases to the last measure of each section of a march. This is the part the trombones usually play. Play the Brahms Lullaby and keep the tonic as the bass of each measure. Make a firm resolution to work out all of the following chapter.

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