Contrary Motion & Common-Tone: Essential Voice Leading Techniques 🎶

Master two fundamental voice leading techniques—Contrary Motion and Common-Tone—which are essential for RCM Level 8 and 9 Theory and Harmony studies. These techniques help create smooth, singable lines while avoiding common voice leading errors.

What You’ll Learn:

🎵 Common-Tone Technique:

• Keep any shared notes between two chords in the same voice.

• Move the remaining voices to the next closest chord tone (usually by step) for a smooth transition.

🎵 Contrary Motion Technique:

• Move the upper three voices in the opposite direction of the bass.

• Typically used when the roots of two chords are a step apart (e.g., IV to V or I to ii).

Why This Matters:

✅ Improves voice leading for harmony exercises

✅ Helps avoid parallel motion errors

✅ Creates more singable, natural melodic lines

These essential techniques will help you develop strong harmonic writing skills and set a solid foundation for advanced harmony and composition studies! 🎼✨