Voicing (music)

For the adjustment of an organ pipe for sound quality, see Voicing (pipe organ).

Various voicings: V/V-V-I progression.
1stⓘ,[1] 2ndⓘ,[2] 3rdⓘ,[3] 4thⓘ, 5thⓘ[4] and 6thⓘ[4]

In music theory, voicing refers to two closely related concepts:

  1. How a musician or group distributes, or spaces, notes and chords on one or more instruments
  2. The simultaneous vertical placement of notes in relation to each other;[5] this relates to the concepts of spacing and doubling

It includes the instrumentation and vertical spacing and ordering of the musical notes in a chord: which notes are on the top or in the middle, which ones are doubled, which octave each is in, and which instruments or voices perform each note.

  1. ^ Benward & Saker (2003), p. 269.
  2. ^ Benward & Saker (2003), p. 274.
  3. ^ Benward & Saker (2003), p. 276.
  4. ^ a b Benward & Saker (2009), p. 74.
  5. ^ Corozine, Vince (2002). Arranging Music for the Real World: Classical and Commercial Aspects. Pacific, MO: Mel Bay. p. 7. ISBN 0-7866-4961-5. OCLC 50470629.