Use either close (3 adjacent chord tones) or open (every other chord tone) structure. Build down from the soprano voice to find alto and tenor notes, according to the structure used. Bass voice is not involved in the structures.
Stay in the structure chosen until you must change for some reason. Do not change structures unless you must.
When you need to change structure, look for a rising soprano line to change from close to open, and a falling soprano line to change from open to close. Repeated triads are good spots to look for, along with using a first inversion triad (especially in O/O, open octave structure) in between the chords in close and open structure.
Check to see if the soprano has the same chord tone as the bass. If it is the same, use open or close structure as if the chord was in root position. If the soprano is different from the bass, double the soprano's note in either the alto or the tenor. The remaining voice should fill in the third tone of the triad.
In the case of first inversion diminished triads, especially leading tone triads, treat them as root position major and minor. That is, use close or open structure so that the bass is doubled. We want to double the third (bass in the case of first inversion) of diminished triads since it is the only tone not contained in the tritone interval of the triad.
The normal resolution is to a root position I chord. Remember the basic rules:
If the V7 is complete, these rules will result in an incomplete triad with the 5th missing. If the V7 has a doubled root and a missing 5th, a complete triad will result.
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Musicianship 112 syllabus
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