Voice Motion – Where Melody and Harmony Intersect!
If you are looking for an in-depth book about three-part harmony (triads) then this could be the book for you!
Voice Motion deals with melodic voice movement found within the same 5 types of triads as in the excellent Generic Modality Compression book by Tim Miller and Mick Goodrick.
The 5 types of triads are;
- Major/Minor
- Sus2/Sus4 (quartal and quintal harmony)
- 7 (no 3rd)
- 7 (no 5th)
- Clusters
While Voice Motion has been compared to George Van Eps’ Harmonic Mechanisms for Guitar as well as the Mick Goodrick Almanacs Voice Motion differs greatly in that it is an extension of the previous books.
While Harmonic Mechanisms is a dry run through triad chord scales with some interesting concepts (super and sub etc) the Mr Goodchord Almanacs takes these same triad chord scales and puts them into cycles from which nice harmonic implications occur (canons being just one example).
Voice Motion build upon these books in that it doesn’t restrict itself to triad chord scales. Instead the book focuses on moving from one type of triad to another via one, or more, of the voices contained in the triad.
It is a much more creative way of using triads and if you want to have full improvisational capacity, or just improve your chord melody playing, then this book is a must!
It is important to note that like books such as The Advancing Guitarist and the Mr Goodchord Almanacs, Voice Motion is a Do It Yourself book. You learn the principles and apply them to your own particular situation with your own personal skill set which then leads to your own voice on the instrument.
If guitarists like John Stowell like the Voice Motion book perhaps you should too!
”Guitarist Johannes Haage’s new book is a valuable addition to guitar literature. Johannes lays out hundreds of examples of voice leading using a variety of chord inversions. Serious guitarists will find material that will be very useful to create chord melodies, comping ideas and solo lines that reference chord shapes as templates. Highly recommended.”
Here is a brief description about the content found in Voice Motion.
Introduction and Preliminary Topics
Voice Motion starts with an introduction by Ben Monder (you can watch the MGH interview with Ben here).
Ben explains that this book will take the student from triad grips to independent moving lines which will light up the path towards spontaneous composition.
Also mentioned in the introduction is the fact that you can open up the book on any page and you will find examples that sound great and can be used in a practical manner immediately.
Personally I have found this to be true especially when I first started working with Voice Motion. I found it difficult to play more than a few examples as many examples sound so good that my ear told me what to play next so from nearly each example I’d write a short etude!
In the preface Johannes discusses his love of music, how the book Voice Motion came about and how the book is written primarily for guitarists but can be applied to any harmonic instrument.
Next is the table of contents which basically divides the book into three parts (which is funny since Voice Motion is a book about three part harmony).
These parts are;
- Close Voicing
- Open Voicing
- Application
Voice Motion concludes with an appendix which consists of 4 parts. One section is for guitarists, one section is for pianists, then there’s a glossary followed by the audio track list.
How To Use Voice Motion
How To Use This Book
Page 7 is entitled ‘How To use This Book’. Here Johannes briefly shows how beginner and intermediate students, advanced students, soloists, accompanists, arrangers and pianists can use the book.
Note that you may not be limited to only 1 category. For example an intermediate student who is studying arranging will get a lot out of this book. Basically you are looking at the same material but with different perspectives.
A very important point mentioned here also is that while the material is presented in a progressive order you can jump in anywhere that you like (depending on your skill level).
Preliminary Topics
The preliminary topics page has notes on playability, categorization, style and rhythm/time.
Like those who work with the Goodrick almanacs, Voice Motion will no doubt get musicians to discover their own style. This is one of the most important aspects of playing yet many players seem to ignore this unique element.
Part One
Part one covers the fundamentals of triad harmony and how harmony and melody intersect.
The introduction of part one covers the identity of all three-part structures, preparatory exercises, voice motion rules, terms and definitions as well as voice motion examples.
In this part of the book it mirrors the Van Eps and Goodrick books as you play diatonic triad chord scales for each of the 5 types of triads listed above and their inversions. These are fundamental exercises that should form part of your daily practise anyway.
This is actually a very important exercise as you will discover which triad types, in which inversions, you really like. You can use these new favourite sounds for composition, improvisation and application in classical or chord melody pieces etc.
The preparatory page shows how this book is different to all other music books. Usually in a typical music book you read the music like a book, from left to right before moving to the next line.
However in voice motion apart from reading each line horizontally you can also read each line vertically and sometimes diagonally as well! Talk about bang for your buck!
108 Voice Motion Melodic Moves
Next is a listing of all possible 108 melodic moves from close voicings. Again, play through them all and select your favourite sounds for future use in standards, classical composition etc.
Each page comes with a unique triad diagram at the top of the page. This diagram represents how each voice moves to the new voice (see the cover of the book for 30 diagram examples). These diagrams make it much easier to understand how the voices move in a single glance.
15 Chord Structures
Here Johannes lists the 15 chord structures with C as the top note. These structures are then shown with all possible melodic movement. Experiment and find your favourites.
Guitar Solo ‘Close Enough for Comfort’
The principles learned earlier in part one are then summarised in a guitar solo piece which is written in standard notation (no guitar tablature).
The book comes with audio examples which cover the most important melodic moves in the book. In addition the three guitar solo pieces are also available in the audio examples.
Part Two
Pat two runs in parallel to part one but this time you use melodic movement with open voicings (spread triads).
These triads are presented as your typical drop 2 spread triad where the middle voice drops down one octave.
So again you play the 108 moves and select your favourite sounds then you play the 15 chord structures.
Once you have played through the closed and open voiced triads in part one and part two you will have a wide collection of some very cool sounds to use going forwards with your own playing.
I have no doubt that if you do this properly and diligently that you will discover a new universe of sound and movement which you can use to really make your playing sound great.
Part two ends with a guitar solo piece composed with spread triads called ‘Spread Your Things and Try’. Again, the solo piece is written in standard notation and the piece is available on audio file.
Part Three
Of course, after all the hard work (or you can just skip to this section) comes the fun!
This section begins with heptatonics (7 note scales).
There is an introduction to heptatonics as well as a small, but worthy, section of heptatonic harmonization.
The 6 scales used are;
- Diatonic Major Scale
- Melodic Minor Scale
- Harmonic Major Scale
- Harmonic Minor Scale
- Melodic Minor b5 Scale
- Harmonic Minor b5 Scale
These ‘balanced’ scales (explained in the book) provide a lot of colour to your playing especially if you take the modes into account.
Applying The Voice Motion Moves
Once these scales are harmonized the real fun begins in the section called ‘Applying The Voice Motion Moves’.
The idea here is that you compose or improvise melodic movement with the triads that you have learnt. There are some examples in case you need help and there is even a blank page with the treble clef stave so that you can jot down any ideas that you otherwise can’t capture.
Narrow-Range Voice Leading
This section contains closed triad chord scales that voice lead to the next chord. One of the 108 moves is applied to each triad movement.
There is also a section about using harmonic cycles to change keys which is interesting as is the next section on heptatonic modes!
Symmetrical Application
Very briefly, Part 3B consists of symmetrical cycles, 19 three-part chords, inversion exercises and building 4-part chords.
Voice Motion Etudes
Part 3C is a great chapter as it shows you how the etudes in this chapter are built.
There are 3 etudes each with its own introduction and preparatory exercises.
The introduction for Etude 1 starts with the different harmonies used in the etude. These are dorian, mixo b9, altered, ionian and alt natural 5! No boring straight major and minors here!
After a little explanation about the melody (remember our main focus is always melody) you then harmonize the melody with a variety of other modes and triad types. Variations of the etude are thoroughly discussed after which you can apply the concepts to any piece of music.
Variations of the etude not only include those of harmony but rhythmically as well. Learn each variation and apply the information to tunes that you already know.
Leaps of 4ths and 5ths
Voice Motion generally focuses on skips of a 2nd or 3rd. However also covered in part 3D are leaps of 4ths and 5ths (if you play like me you’ll love this section!).
Before the last guitar solo which is appropriately called ‘Holy Freedom’ , The Big Picture is discussed.
The Voice Motion Appendix
For Guitarists
The appendix for guitarists starts simply with finding all the notes on the fretboard and reading sheet music in standard notation. There is guitar tablature on the page to help with this. Octaves are discussed and accidentals enter the picture as well.
In my opinion you should already know these fundamentals however if you don’t make sure that you spend plenty of time here.
For Piano Players
Playing three-part harmony on the piano is next. Johannes explains how to use the material found in the book for piano. You start with close voicing before playing an etude. Next is a discussion about open voices and how to apply them to an etude.
Doubling notes is discussed next.
Glossary and Audio Track List
The book finishes with a glossary and an audio track list.
Highlights of Voice Motion
For me personally the whole book is a highlight as I love exploring the fretboard and new sounds.
As mentioned above, if you work through the voicings in the book and write down your favourite sounds then you will begin to play, compose and improvise with the sounds that you really like. This is really a fundamental must do exercise as why would you play anything less than your favourite sounds?
Furthermore, by working with this book your playing will benefit from increased fretboard awareness, new compositional motives, new sounds, new fingerings, new improvisational ideas, an improved insight into moving lines and much more.
I love going of on a tangent when I hear something cool and writing something with it. By using the Pareto 80/20 principle you will end up with some cool tunes (out of the 10 tunes you write 2 will be much better than the others!).
A challenge on the Modern Guitar Harmony Patreon page was to write a short 8 bar segment using the hungarian minor scale. I decided to apply some Voice Motion ideas to the piece I wrote and you can hear the ideas here after the descending 7th chords intro.
What Voice Motion Does Not Contain
First of all Voice Motion contains no guitar tablature apart from in the appendix where you are trying to locate notes.
Examples are written in standard notation |(sheet music) with the previously mentioned movement diagrams at the top of the page.
As with all music books which use printed examples there can be a tendency to play the examples without any musicality. As always try to start slow on ascending passages speeding up to the crescendo and slow down on the descend.
Similarly there are no dynamic markings as you should be putting these into your music anyway.
Conclusion
Voice Motion is a relatively new book for me so I haven’t spent an excess amount of time with it but I have been diligently going through the examples and writing little things with them.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to go beyond playing chord grips and those who are looking to add more movement to their playing.
In particular this book is applicable to classical and jazz guitar however players of all styles will find this book useful.
Playing spread triads on the guitar is probably easier to do with your fingers as opposed to using a plectrum (Eric Johnson is a great exception!) so fingerstyle guitarists should really check out this book.
Further Reading and Listening
Johannes Haage is a Berlin-based guitarist and educator who started playing violin at the age of 5.
Haage took up guitar at age 13 and went to Portland, Oregon as an exchange student. In Portland Johannes played jazz frequently eventually playing and studying with Bill Frisell, Ben Monder and many others.
Haage is very active in the German music scene and currently plays with the trio Drift which includes drummer Joe Smith and bassist Matthias Pichler.
Shoebill Music Youtube Channel Featuring Practical Voice Motion Videos
The Mr Goodchord Almanacs Are Available Here.
You can read more and purchase the Voice Motion book in paperback or eBook form on the Mel Bay website.
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