go down or up to tonic?

K

konartis

Guest
i have a question thats been in the back of my mind for a while----
when you have a progression ie I-IV-V and then go back to the tonic, do you go down or up on the keyboard? this has been bothering me for ages because i guess some songs might go up and some down when resolving.
what about going from a VI to II? they seem pretty close, is it ok to just go up instead of all the way down?
both ways sound ok when im composing :confused:
i want to know how professioanls do it, i have many books on theory and progressions but have never seen anything saying
"yes, you should move DOWN to I, because going UP makes it seem like you want the progression to keep moving instead of resolving"
or something like that.
please help fam, free candy for whoever sheds some light on this.:) :) :monkey:
 
Well it's to do with basic voice leading, take the standard jazz II-V-I progression, you'll notice that the 7th of each chord resolves down a half step and becomes the 3rd of the next chord, it's a very natural resolution and is known as an authentic cadence.
 
Are you just talking about the root motion? If so, just do what sounds good to you at the given time. There are no set rules for such things.

However, if you're talking about the other voices, follow jimmythesaint's advice.
 
I think most people resolve downwards, but I doubt there are any rules. Maybe it will sound a bit more unusual if you resolve upwards, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
 
There is no specific rules about going to tonic, in traditional counterpoint in a V-I cadence the bass voice would skip down to tonic from the 5th, and the top voice would go up a half step, from the 7th scale degree up to the tonic. But those are rules meant for counterpoint, most piano players dont consider all the rules when they are just playing along to a song.
 
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