How to write a Classical-Style Period

Step 4. Now, thinking about both melody and harmony, try to figure out how to change
the end of the first 4-measure phrase so that it concludes on the tonic. You may not need
to change the melody very much. However, some melodies will require more extensive
alterations.
In general, you want measures 5-6 to be the same as 1-2. You dont need to vary
these measures to keep things interesting. In a period, the variation usually comes at
the end of a phrase, not the beginning.
C: I V7 I V I V7 I ii6 V I

&
. .
Notice that our whole melody contains only 20 notes, and that 8 of them are repeats!
That means it really isnt that hard to write a bad (but typical!) classical phrase.

Step 5. Now that we have our melody and chord-progression, we need to add
accompanimental voices. Start with very simple harmonies, trying to keep the voice-
leading as clear as possible, and avoiding parallels. You may find yourself changing
inversions, or even adding a chord here and there, in order to produce a smooth
accompaniment.

3 . .
C: I V34 I6 I V I V43 I6 ii6 V I

&4
3
& 4 ... ... .. ... ... .
.
Notice here that weve put the V chord in measure 2 into second inversion. In measure 3,
we have two different inversions of the I chord. This is because were trying to write an
independent bass line that is somewhat interesting in its own right.

Weve also shifted the melody up by an octave. This is because the accompanimental
chords sound muddy when theyre in the octave below middle C. Many beginning
students make the mistake of writing music that is too low. In general this is NOT
stylistic: classical music tends to be have a relatively high range. (Another musical term
for a registral range is tessitura, so that we could say classical music has a high
tessitura.)

Now at this point, many of you may want to stop. Youve written a boring but typical
classical period, with a boring but acceptable melody, and boring but correct
accompaniment. You deserve a boring (but decent!) grade. Some of you, however, may
want to continue on to

Step 6. (optional) The final stage is to give our phrase a little more zip by adding some
rhythmic figuration to the accompaniment.
In measures 1-2, I have used a standard classical Alberti bass pattern to
enliven the harmony.
In measure 3, I added a passing chord (D-F in the left hand) on beat 2.
In measure 4, I composed an arpeggio to keep the rhythmic energy from fading.
Measures 5-6 are exactly the same as measures 1-2.
in measure 7, I added a D to the accompaniment (4th eighth note) to create a
stronger sense of cadence.
In measure 8, I repeated the arpeggio idea from measure 4.
 .
V I ii V
4 6 4 6 6

.
C: I V I I V I I

&
3 3

&
?

Do not undercut your earlier work! In particular, dont obscure the basic harmonic
progression (Step 4) or the voice-leading that you sketched in Step 5. Figuration is the
icing on the cake. Dont let it distract from the cake itself.

You now have a perfectly normal, typical classical phrase. Its boring, but correct. If
you were training to be a great classical composer, you would write hundreds and
hundreds of these phrases, knitting them together to form pieces of music. As you wrote
more and more, your phrases would gradually get more and more interesting. Eventually,
your music would be neither boring nor typical, but would instead become great.