Voice Crossing
Two voices swap their high-low positions — a common way to blur the lines
Related
Voice crossing is the moment two voices swap their high-low positions: the upper voice moves below, the lower moves above. It is not automatically wrong, but it weakens the independence of each line and makes it harder to hear who is who.
It differs from voice overlap: crossing exchanges positions, overlap is one voice moving past where another has just been. The usual mistake is to forbid it outright — it is common in piano textures and jazz arranging; in strict counterpoint, it needs care.
Read deeper → voice leading
Sources
- 声部交错的判定与例外，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Voice leading"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.