Description
Voice leading is regarding all the notes present in a piece of music as part of a melodic thread.
For example, suppose a song in which there is a series of three-note chords being played. Each note of each chord is regarded as it's own voice. As the song moves from chord to chord, the top note (highest in pitch) of each chord is regarded as an entity called a melodic thread in its own right from the beginning of the phrase, chord progression or whole song to the end. The same follows for the middle notes of the chords forming their own melodic thread and the lowest notes likewise. These melodic threads are voices.
The ways in which these voices interact is regarded as how voice leading is accomplished in the song. The basic principles of Functional (Tonal) Harmony, the arising of a functional labeling of chords are a consequence of voice leading. For example, the concepts of the Tonic chord (one chord in relation to it's root being the same as the key in which the piece is written), Dominant chord (five chord being built on the fifth degree of the key), as well as Sub-dominant, & Intermediate, etc. chords exist because of voice leading.
Lesson Info
