Soprano and alto share the treble clef, while tenor and bass share the bass clef. The stems on the notes must always go up for tenor and soprano and always go down for bass and alto, otherwise confusion reigns! E.g.:
Step three Now make each note of the scale into a triad by adding a 3rd onto the notes of the scale and a third above that. This will look like this:
Step four Now we figure our chords so that we can see exactly what notes we have in each chord we will be using. Generally Roman numerals are used to do this in Bach harmony. What we now have looks like the following:
Primary Triads
The most important chords in the scale are the tonic chord (I), followed by the dominant (V) and the subdominant (IV). Some passages can be harmonised with these chords alone and they are certainly the strongest chords in our triad scale. We will use chords I, IV and V more than any others and they form the basis of most of the commonest cadences.
When arranging these triads for Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass (SATB), we hit a bit of a snag. There are three notes in the chord, but four vocal parts. In order to get around this, we must double (or repeat) one of the notes in the chord. The rules are as follows: You must not double the third, but you must include it. The root of the chord is the strongest note to double, but. . . You may also double the 5th. For the moment, we will always put the root of the chord (the one at the bottom) in the bass. Here are some possible arrangements of chord I:
The spacing of your chord is also important. To guide us in this, we are not allowed to have a gap of more than an octave between parts, except in the tenor and bass where this sounds quite good. So this is right:
Now using some manuscript paper, see if you can arrange chords I, IV and V in C major correctly. Then try to make different (but still correct!) versions of chords I, IV and V in D major and Eb major.