Play a melody note on the keyboard below…
Voicing —
Root3rd5th7thLetters = S · A · T · B
Harmonize this note —
Where Bach goes next
After the current chord, these are his most common moves. Gold bars on the keyboard show which melody notes usually come next.
Compose melody rules. Starts on 1̂, 3̂ or 5̂ · mostly steps, some 3rds · a leap of a 4th or more turns back by step · no tritones or augmented 2nds · no more than two leaps in a row · one high point · phrase endings on 2̂/5̂ (half cadence) or 1̂/3̂, final phrase 2̂–1̂ or 7̂–1̂ · each note is picked where the current style has a strong chord for it, and cadences get V → I.
The four voices are then laid out by voice-leading rules: ranges, spacing, no parallel 5ths/8ves, leading tones up, sevenths down, smallest motion.
Melody Click, or use your computer keys (A W S E D F T G Y H U J K…) · Z / X shift octave · Space play/stop · Esc stop
C4–C6