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C to D
G.[2] &
In music, consecutive fifths or parallel fifths are progressions in which the interval of a perfect fifth is followed by a different perfect fifth between the same two musical parts (or voices): for example, from C to D in one part along with G to A in a higher part. Octave displacement is irrelevant to this aspect of musical grammar; for example, a parallel twelfth (i.e., an octave plus a fifth) is equivalent to a parallel fifth.[nb 1]
Parallel fifths are used in, and are evocative of, many musical genres, such as various kinds of Western folk and medieval music, as well as popular genres like rock music. However, parallel motion in perfect consonances (P1, P5, P8) is strictly forbidden in species counterpoint instruction (1725–present),[2] and during the common practice period, consecutive fifths were strongly discouraged. This was primarily due to the notion of voice leading in tonal music, in which "one of the basic goals ... is to maintain the relative independence of the individual parts."[3]
A common theory[citation needed] is that the presence of the 3rd harmonic of the harmonic series influenced the creation of the prohibition.[clarification needed]
- ^ Kostka & Payne (1995). Tonal Harmony, p.85. Third Edition. ISBN 0-07-300056-6.
- ^ a b Benward & Saker (2003). Music in Theory and Practice, Vol. I, p.155. ISBN 978-0-07-294262-0.
- ^ Kostka & Payne (1995), p.84.
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