Three- and Four-Voice Independence

1. Three voices: Sinfonia No. 11 in G minor

Purpose: maintain several lines without letting the busiest one dominate. Preparation: sustain one voice while another moves in the same hand. Treat this repertoire excerpt as an advanced application, not a required sight-reading test.

The upper voice opens with a short figure; the middle voice enters in measure 2 while the upper F continues. In measure 4, listen for the related figure in the bass. Stem-up and stem-down notes on the upper staff distinguish the two higher voices.

Play the upper voice alone, preserving its dotted quarters. Then add the middle voice without clipping those long notes. Work on the bass separately before combining all three. Three eighth notes fill each bar: a dotted quarter lasts the entire measure.

Listening task: trace the active figure from upper to middle to bass. Let each entry become clear without making the other voices disappear. Held notes continue even when attention shifts elsewhere.

Source: Olivier Vermersch, Mutopia 200, public-domain transcription; underlying edition unspecified. Notes, rests, ties, and registers retained. Layout changed; no fingering or dynamics added.

2. Four voices: Fugue in C major, WTC I

This excerpt begins with a three-voice texture; the bass enters in measure 5, after the first half of the bar. For this reading, call the voices soprano and alto on the upper staff, tenor and bass on the lower staff. Upward stems identify the higher voice on each staff.

Preserve what is already sounding

In measure 5 the bass begins on the “and” of beat 3: C–D–E. Hear this entrance while continuing all three existing lines. In measure 6, keep the soprano’s long C audible through the moving inner parts. The alto G tied into measure 7 must not be reattacked.

Four voices do not mean four notes sounding at every instant. Rests, overlaps, and entries are part of the texture. Track a voice through its silence and know when it returns.

Source: Shay Rojansky / Andreas Scherer, Mutopia 4, public-domain transcription; underlying edition unspecified. Notes, rests, ties, and registers retained; layout changed and no fingering or dynamics added. Double bar marks the excerpt boundary.

3. Practice combinations, then restore the whole

Start with the G-minor Sinfonia if the fugue is too demanding. Correct duration and clear listening at a comfortable tempo are more valuable than an approximate performance of all the notes.

A pairing plan

Also test the two voices sharing each hand. An outer-voice reduction can sound secure while hiding a difficult inner-voice overlap. Keep each selected voice’s original rhythm, including rests, so that the reductions still join correctly.

Attend to one line while playing the others

Play all the voices and listen mainly to one for a short segment. On the next repetition, move your attention to another. This is an aural check, not a demand that every voice be equally loud. In the final musical version, entrances, harmonic direction, and phrase endings should guide the balance.

For the fugue, rehearse the bass entrance with each upper voice in turn. For the Sinfonia, sustain the upper notes while following the middle voice’s ties. If an overlap is physically awkward, temporarily separate the voices between hands to establish the sound before choosing a comfortable final distribution.

Check the boundary of the exercise

The printed excerpts stop before the pieces end. In the complete score, practice into the next measure so that an artificial stopping point does not become part of your phrasing. Restore pedal only after you can hear the individual releases; use it according to the texture and acoustics rather than as a substitute for voice control.

Ready to transfer: identify each entry, play each voice independently, and explain which notes remain down while another voice changes. Keep that clarity when the full texture returns.