- Hi, I'm Gareth Green, and in this video,
we're going to look at the first two phrases
of a Bach chorale,
and we're going to consider
how the whole musical result is enriched
by the use of suspensions.
So where are these suspensions used?
What are they? What impact does it have?
Well, let's start by hearing
the first two phrases of this chorale.
It's number 171
in the Reimenschneider collection,
but you don't particularly need to worry about that,
unless you want to see the rest of the chorale.
But the two phrases we're talking about
are right in front of you now.
So this is what it sounds like.
Okay, now let's just hear that
without the suspensions,
without any decoration in it,
and see what the difference is.
Well, it sounds okay, doesn't it?
The harmony all works perfectly well,
but it sounds a little bit boring, maybe.
You know, how can you have a fairly solemn
chorale melody like this,
yet actually bring it to life musically?
Well, that's when we get into this whole business
of decorating the music.
So sometimes we're going to use passing notes
or auxiliary notes, like for example,
at the end of the second bar,
where Bach just tucks this passing note into the bass part.
You notice this corner here, where we have this chord.
In the bass here, there is an unaccented passing note.
So instead of just going from this chord
to this chord,
he tucks in this passing note.
So even that passing note gives us
a little bit of rhythmic energy,
a little bit of melodic interest in the bass part,
just to keep things moving.
You get other things happening,
like when we get to the end
and we come to this penultimate chord here,
you notice there's some quaver movement going on.
But in fact, these are not suspensions,
they're not passing notes, they're not auxiliary notes.
Bach is just jumping to another harmony note.
So he's keeping the rhythmic energy going,
simply by moving from one harmony note to another.
So, there are different ways in which you can keep
the energy of the chorale moving,
without having to go into inessential notes,
like passing notes or auxiliary notes,
and without having to use suspensions,
just by changing the harmony notes.
So there we are, we've seen a passing note,
we've seen some movement of harmony notes.
But the main thing Bach is doing here
is dealing with suspensions.
So remember, whenever we use a suspension,
there are three stages,
P, S, R.
So, prepare, sound, resolve.
Okay, now, when you do this,
you've got these three stages to think about.
So if you're going to try and put a suspension
into your own harmonisation of a Bach chorale,
or to any other piece of music
where you want to write a suspension,
you've got to make sure you can deliver these three steps.
Now, the note that becomes P, for prepare,
will belong to the chord that's sounding at the time.
The note that belongs to R, for resolve,
will belong to the chord that's sounding next.
So even though there are three stages,
we're normally talking about two chords.
One is the P chord, one is the R chord,
the prepare chord and the resolve chord.
So how does S work?
Because S is usually dissonant with the chord.
And the way it works is this,
the note that you have for P
is the same note that you have for S,
and then when S goes to R, you move by step,
normally downwards.
So let's see if we can just think this through for a moment.
Say I have these chords, a chord of F major,
followed by a chord of C major.
Okay, so I've got F, C.
Maybe I'm going to decide to put
a suspension in the alto part.
So here's F, and now I'm going to put a suspension.
So you can hear that the first chord,
everybody sounds as if they belong to each other,
so that's consonant.
The second chord, again, that sounds consonant,
all the notes belong to the chord.
So, this F is P,
and then this is R,
when the F goes to E,
F, E,
but what happens if I suspend that first note and create S?
So the chord moves from the F major chord
to the C major chord, but that F I have in the alto,
I'm going to hang onto for a moment longer,
so I'm going to go,
F, F, E.
So, do you see how that works?
F, F, E.
So the F is the same in the P, for prepare,
and for S, in the sound,
then it resolves downwards by a step to the E.
P is consonant,
S is dissonant, R is consonant.
So you feel this tension around S,
and this is really what goes on with a suspension.
If you want to inject that little bit of tension
and musical interest,
the suspension does it for you very nicely.
So, let's have a look at where these suspensions come
in this Bach chorale.
Well, I can tell you that the first one
comes in the bass part here.
Now, suspensions often happen above the bass part,
but there's no reason why they can't happen
in the bass part.
So we're in the key of G minor.
The first chord is a tonic chord.
The second chord is a dominant chord
in first inversion.
Okay, so what we're dealing with, then,
is the G minor chord at the beginning,
and then a D major chord in first inversion.
Okay, but can you see, the bass G,
by being extended, is creating a suspension?
So I've got the G minor chord.
I should be going to the D major chord straight away.
Well, there's the G minor chord, but the G in the bass
holds on for a bit longer
before it resolves.
So even though it's a sustained G,
it could be sustained, or it could be repeated,
I've got G, that's P,
then I've still got G sounding on beat two,
so that's S,
and then it resolves downwards by a step
to F-sharp,
so that's R, so you see how that works.
So what started off as two plain chords,
is now enriched by that suspension in the bass line.
If you repeat the note, it sounds stronger.
If you sustain the note, as Bach has done here,
it's slightly softer,
because we're not repeating it,
we're not emphasising that clash, we're just sustaining it.
But just that first phrase,
a very simple first phrase, isn't it, of four notes,
and you can see what a difference that suspension makes,
and you can certainly hear it.
So if I play the first four notes without the suspension,
it sounds all right, put the suspension in,
it sounds even better.
And so you see, it just injects that little bit
of tension into that first bar.
Okay, let's have a look at where the next suspension comes,
interestingly, using the same pair of notes
in the same kind of way, but here,
we have a suspension in the alto part.
Let's see how this works.
So we've got a G minor chord, a chord I,
and then we've got this chord,
which is an F-sharp diminished chord,
or it's a chord VII in its first inversion,
so that's what's going on there.
And what Bach is doing is suspending the G.
So we have this G in the alto.
That's the preparation,
when we move on, it's now sounding
then it resolves downwards by a step.
So you see, it's following P, S, R,
and all we've said about it.
So instead of just having this chord followed by this chord,
we've got the suspension,
It just adds something, doesn't it?
Then after that, we have that passing note
in the bass that we talked about,
and then as we go into the last bar,
we notice something else going on
in the alto part here.
Okay, this is another suspension,
because from this chord to this chord,
we've got G minor, D major,
the G minor in first inversion,
the D major in root position,
so a Ib, or a I6 if you know it that way,
to this D major chord, chord V,
and all that's happened is we've got
this passing note in the bass,
but then we have a suspension in the alto.
So again, you hear what's happening.
The G, at this point, is P,
then it's S, then it's R, okay?
So P belongs to this first chord,
S is the same note, but it's dissonant with this chord,
R is the note of resolution
that goes into that second chord.
And we call this a 4-3 suspension
because the alto between S and R
is going from the fourth above the bass note
to the third above the bass note, so we've got this.
Without that suspension,
sounds fine, just a bit plainer, isn't it?
But with the suspension,
it just adds that richness to the moment, doesn't it?
And you can see, P, S, R,
and how they all belong to each other, as we've said.
Okay, have we finished with suspensions?
No we haven't, there's one more to come,
and it's in the tenor, just here.
Now let's see what Bach is doing here in the tenor part.
Can you see that we've got this D major chord
at the beginning of the last bar, and then,
with this D in the tenor
as we go to the second beat the D in the tenor
is still sounding rather beautifully,
but it's clashing with the chord,
before it resolves into a note that belongs to the chord,
and it's going 7 to 6 above the bass note,
when it's going from S to R,
so that's the next suspension.
So from the beginning of that last bar,
we've got the 4-3 in the alto,
and now a 7-6 in the tenor,
before we go on to the last chord.
So in fact, that alto suspension
followed by that tenor suspension
kind of gives you this double situation.
It's not a double suspension.
It's only a double suspension if the two suspensions
are happening at the same time.
But having one suspension in one part
followed by another suspension in another part
gives you that really kind of expressive touch.
So you can see and hear the impact of this suspension,
followed by this suspension, followed by this suspension,
followed by this suspension,
on what, there's only three bars of music.
So here it is, without the suspensions.
Here it is with the suspensions.
Wow, what an amazing impact that makes on it.
So, there we are,
using suspensions to enrich your harmonisation.
If you're wanting to harmonise
chorales in the style of Bach,
or even if you're just wanting to use suspensions
in a totally different style,
that's how you use them,
that's the kind of impact it has on the music.
Well, if you've enjoyed this video,
you might want to go to our website,
www.mmcourses.co.uk,
where you'll find details of our many online courses
that go into this topic in much more detail,
and many others as well, so theory courses,
aural courses, keyboard harmony, aural dictation,
orchestration, all sorts of things there,
A-Z theory of music courses as well,
everything explained, written down, sounded,
so you can really get to grips with that.
So anything that's of interest to you there,
have a good look, see what you can find.
While you're there, you might also want to click
on Maestros on the homepage,
and Maestros is a fantastic international community
of musicians that we've created.
Many perks in being a member of Maestros,
including the potential to get discounts
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really go into some detail on something
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Okay, well, enjoy having a look around
at all that we have to offer there,
and enjoy suspensions.