Parallel fifths

I saw on Facebook this week where James Koerts posted the following:

“Parallel 5ths” get a bad rap.

I have to agree.  In fact, I had to laugh because I just posted an arrangement last week that blatantly ignores the prohibition on parallel 5ths.  Here is the ending.

The prohibition on parallel 5ths is most commonly associated with writing counterpoint and goes back to the 1300’s.  Of course, many composers have defied the rule, but to this day, when you study writing in college, this is probably the first rule you will be taught.  Use parallel 5ths in an assignment and you are likely to get red ink of the sort you see above.

It is a good thing I don’t have a music degree because I might have received so much red ink that I would not be able to force myself to break that rule.  But as it turns out, I use parallel fifths quite often.  At times, someone will point them out to me almost as if they have caught me robbing a bank.

But I am not going to back down from using them.  There is one and only reason why I do: I like this kind of sound.  I can defend the particular thing I do above and while not everyone will agree with my defense, that does not matter much to me.

The great composers that formulated these kinds of rules were smarter than I am and better musicians by far.  But I am still not obligated to follow their rules.  I am more a fan of another great composer/musician’s famous rule.

If it sounds good, it is good. – Duke Ellington