Voice Leading Between Superimposed Objects

A superimposed object becomes musically useful when it can move somewhere.

This is the bridge between the systematic exercises and improvisational language. Until now, we have often frozen the harmony and examined one object at a time. We now keep the objects intact conceptually while allowing their individual voices to seek economical destinations.

Consider:

Dm7 + C major -> C-E-G -> b7-9-11

followed by:

G7 + Eb major -> Eb-G-Bb -> b13-1-#9

and then:

Cmaj7 + Em7 -> E-G-B-D -> 3-5-7-9

Do not automatically play each object in root position. That would turn three useful structures into three disconnected hand shapes. Instead, choose inversions according to voice leading.

One possible upper path is:

C-E-G -> Bb-Eb-G -> B-E-G

Read each voice horizontally:

C -> Bb -> B
E -> Eb -> E
G -> G -> G

The progression contains two chromatic neighbor motions around stable destinations and one common tone. The theoretical structures are different, but the physical motion is small.

This gives us an important distinction:

object identity is vertical; voice leading is horizontal.

You need both representations at once.

Same three superimpositions, chosen in the inversions that connect: C-E-G to Bb-Eb-G to B-E-G -- object identity is vertical, voice leading is horizontal.

X:1
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:C
V:RH clef=treble
[CEG]8 | [_B_eg]8 | [Beg]8 |]
V:LH clef=bass
D,,8 | G,,8 | C,,8 |]

Same three superimpositions, chosen in the inversions that connect: C-E-G to Bb-Eb-G to B-E-G -- object identity is vertical, voice leading is horizontal. Same voicing, arpeggiated instead of stacked.

X:1
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:C
V:RH clef=treble
C2 E2 G2 z2 | _B2 _e2 g2 z2 | B2 e2 g2 z2 |]
V:LH clef=bass
D,,8 | G,,8 | C,,8 |]

Connection 1 - bright dominant

Start with:

Dm7 + C major -> C-E-G

Move to:

G7 + A major -> A-C#-E

Then resolve to:

Cmaj7 + Em7 -> E-G-B-D

Experiment with inversions until the V-I connection contains at least one common tone or semitone. There is no single mandatory solution. The exercise is to preserve awareness of the objects while optimizing the voices.

Connection 2 - altered dominant, upward gravity

Use:

G7 + Eb major -> Eb-G-Bb

The characteristic resolution is:

Eb -> E
G -> G
Bb -> B

This is one reason the structure is so useful. The object is memorable vertically, while two of its voices advertise the tonic through semitone motion.

Practice the resolution first as whole notes. Then quarter notes. Then break the dominant into a pure Eb-major permutation while forcing its final notes to resolve into E minor over Cmaj7.

Connection 3 - altered dominant, downward gravity

Use:

G7 + Db major -> Db-F-Ab

Resolve:

Db -> C
F -> E
Ab -> G

Here all three voices can descend by semitone. Compare this repeatedly with the Eb-major version. The category ‘altered dominant’ is too broad to capture the difference. One object has strong upward attractions; the other offers a striking downward contraction.

Connection 4 - preserve one voice

Common tones create continuity.

Suppose the ii uses:

Dm7 + C major -> C-E-G

and the V uses:

G7 + Eb major -> Eb-G-Bb

G is common to both objects. Keep it in the same register while the other voices move. Then resolve the same G into the tonic.

The ear hears change and continuity simultaneously. This is one of the simplest ways to make sophisticated harmony sound composed rather than assembled.

Connection 5 - connect characteristic tensions

Voice leading need not minimize every movement. Sometimes one characteristic tension deserves priority.

For G7 + A major, C# is the note that most clearly announces the #11 color. If your tonic destination contains D or C, make the C# resolution audible. Do not hide it inside a fast arpeggio merely because another inversion is physically closer.

Economy is a tool, not a law.

Systematic voice-leading practice

Take one ii object, one V object, and one I object.

First play all three as blocks. Then choose the nearest inversions. Then isolate each moving voice and play it alone through the progression. Finally reconstruct the complete voicings.

A useful matrix in C is:

ii: C major, Em7, A minor pentatonic
V: A major, Bb major, Db major, Eb major
I: Em7, D major

Do not practice every possible combination. Choose combinations that produce an audible reason to exist: common tones, semitone motion, contrary motion, or a particularly clear tension-resolution pair.

From connection to line

Only after the block connection is clear should you arpeggiate it.

For example, over the V chord, play a pure permutation of Eb major. Arrange the permutation so that its last exposed tension is Bb. On the tonic, resolve immediately to B.

The line now contains a melodic event whose logic came from the vertical structure:

Bb -> B = #9 of G7 -> major 7 of Cmaj7

This is the point at which a superimposition begins to become vocabulary.

Ear check

Play the V-I resolutions without looking. Can you distinguish the sound of:

G7 + A major -> Cmaj7

G7 + Db major -> Cmaj7

G7 + Eb major -> Cmaj7

before naming the objects?

If not, reduce each structure to its most characteristic moving tones. Hear the resolution first. Rebuild the full object afterward.