# Old Hundredth: Option A, Warm colour ## Title and instrumentation **Old Hundredth: Option A, Warm colour.** A reharmonisation of your four-part setting for unaccompanied SATB choir: Soprano, Alto, Tenor (treble clef sounding an octave lower) and Bass, one staff each. Chord symbols above the soprano name each harmony as sung. **This option in one line:** it keeps your own chords and bass line almost everywhere but sings every triad as a sixth or seventh chord, adds an Am7–D7 into the first cadence, and adds two passing diminished chords. The three options at a glance (same melody, same form in each): - **A, Warm colour (this one):** your chords coloured as sixths and sevenths, plus three gentle links. It is the closest to your setting. - **B, Secondary dominants:** chords that lean into the next chord (A7, B7, G7, a C♯ diminished seventh), circle-of-fifths bass lines and one tritone substitution (A♭7). - **C, Borrowed from G minor:** E♭maj7, Cm, Cm7–F7 (backdoor), Gm7 and Am7♭5 borrowed from the parallel minor, plus a shift from E major 7 to E minor. ## Duration and form 8 bars of 4/4 in G major at ♩ = 69, about 28 seconds. The form is exactly yours: four 2-bar phrases, the melody in quarter notes throughout, the same phrase endings (bars 2, 4, 6 and 8). ## Difficulty and playability notes - Ranges: Soprano D4–D5 (your melody); Alto G3–G4; Tenor E3–D4; Bass G2–G3. All sit inside normal SATB ranges, and the range check passed. - The alto's lowest note, G3, comes on bar 2 beat 1 under the melody's low D. - The lower voices move in eighth notes in three places while the melody holds: bar 2 beat 3 (bass A–D, tenor G–F♯), bar 5 beat 4 (bass D–D♯) and bar 6 beat 2 (bass C–C♯, alto B–B♭). - Chromatic notes to tune: D♯ in the bass (bar 5) and C♯ in the bass with B♭ in the alto (bar 6). Each is a half step that keeps moving in the same direction. - Moderate difficulty for a choir used to hymns. The sevenths and added sixths are the main new skill: the singer holding the 7th or 6th should tune it against the bass, not against the melody. ## Performance notes - Breathe at the phrase ends (after bars 2, 4 and 6); no breath marks are printed, as in your source. - Balance the colour notes (the 6ths and 7ths in alto and tenor) a little under the melody, so the tune leads. - The final chord is G6 (G–B–E with the melody on G): let the alto's E ring softly rather than resolving it. - Your source has no words, and none were added. If you sing a text such as the Doxology, the eighth-note pairs in the lower voices take one syllable each pair (a slur). ## What was done and what was not Task: existing music with only the requested changes. Old Hundredth, from your attached four-part setting. - **Your harmony, read first.** Your setting's harmony is clear: one chord a beat, all in G major (for example bar 1 G–Em–D–C, bar 8 Am–G/D–D–G). No question was needed. - **Shared first step (my choice, the same in all three options):** every chord keeps its root and bass but is read as a sixth or seventh chord: G6, Gmaj7, Em7, D7, Cmaj7, Am7, C6. Where the melody sits on G or C, the chord is a sixth chord rather than a major seventh, so the seventh does not grind against the melody note. - **What this option changes (each taken from a list of legal substitutions that fit your melody):** - Bar 2, beat 3: D becomes **Am7–D7** (a ii–V into the first cadence). - Bar 5, beat 4: D7 moves to a passing **D♯dim7** (bass D–D♯–E). - Bar 6, beat 2: Cmaj7 moves to a passing **C♯dim7** (bass C–C♯–D). - Bar 4, beat 1: the G chord is sung with B in the bass (G6/B). In root position your bass and melody would move in octaves (G up to C). - **Chords by bar:** 1 G6 Em7 D7 Cmaj7 · 2 G6/B Em7 Am7–D7 Gmaj7 · 3 Gmaj7 Em7 G/D D7 · 4 G6/B C6 G/D D7 · 5 G6 D7/F♯ Gmaj7 D7–D♯dim7 · 6 Em7 Cmaj7–C♯dim7 D7 G6 · 7 G6 Gmaj7 Em7 D7 · 8 Am7 G/D D7 G6. - **Voicing:** alto, tenor and bass are new lines. Every chord's spacing was taken from a list of legal four-part spacings with your melody note on top, choosing smooth inner lines and complete chords. - **Kept exactly:** your melody (all 32 notes, same pitches, spellings and rhythm; checked note for note against your file), key, meter and form. Every difference from your file is in the alto, tenor and bass. - **Checked:** there are no parallel fifths or octaves between any two voices. A strict counterpoint check notes two things, both kept on purpose: - Bar 4, beats 1–2: a hidden octave between soprano and bass, caused by your melody's leap from G up to C over a bass step. - Bar 6, beat 2 into beat 3: bass and tenor go from a diminished fifth (C♯–G) to a perfect fifth (D–A) as the passing chord resolves. - **Not done:** - No option is chosen for you. No lyrics, fermatas or breath marks were added. - Dynamics: only a soft opening (mp) and the tempo word "Gently, with warmth" are suggestions of mine. - I have not listened to this setting. This commission delivers no recording; the MIDI file holds the notes. - **About the MIDI file:** - Four tracks named Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass, on the General MIDI "Choir Aahs" sound, at ♩ = 69. - Notes are at one even loudness; the mp marking is not played. - MIDI cannot carry note spelling (B♭ and A♯ look the same), chord symbols, clefs or the printed text. The MusicXML file keeps all of these. ## Files in this folder - `score.pdf`: full score, US Letter, one page. - `score.musicxml`: editable score with chord symbols, for notation software. - `score.mid`: MIDI for your DAW, one track per voice part. - `GUIDE.md`: this guide.