Questions tagged [counterpoint]
Questions relating to the uses, history, types, or analysis of counterpoint.
235 questions
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Starting harmonization with chords or bass?
The traditional texts on harmony typically first teach harmonizing with I-IV-V-I progression, dwelling on many technical details - mostly having to do with voice leading. This leaves one with a fairly ...
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Fugue Structure
I've been wanting to learn to write a fugue for a while. I spent some time learning counterpoint with a teacher starting with species, I think I got a good grasp on counterpoint now.
How do you write ...
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How is voice dissonance allowed in (non classical) counterpoint? [closed]
I learned (non classical) counterpoint as one or more additional voice(s) over a main voice that uses the same rhythm, but with 3rd, 5th, possibly 7th on multiple octaves so that the combination of ...
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Can compound melodies cause voice leading errors?
"Chordal skips" in my harmony textbook refer to when a voice skips to another note within the same harmony. "Chordal skips" may be used as voice leading correctives with regards to ...
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Are there stylistic problems with this Renaissance canon study?
I came across this article about a historically informed method to teach canon.
https://symposium.music.org/48/item/2248-so-you-want-to-write-a-canon-an-historically-informed-new-approach-for-the-...
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Exposition in Bach's fugue repeats?
Analyzing Bachs first fugue in C major
I can't understand something.
I have colored all the subjects and answers in the picture and wrote their structure in the picture below but it seems that the ...
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Isn’t the root progression or chord progression of a song meant to anchor in a foundation for rest of the instruments to experiment over?
What I mean is, isn’t the idea of creating and using a root progression or chord progression for it to be the foundation for a composition. With pop music (rap, r&b, latin, pop rock, country) the ...
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Handling the fifth in counterpoint inverted at the octave
In counterpoint textbooks inversion of two parts is often explained with a chart like this...
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
...with noting...
perfect and imperfect intervals remain so after ...
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Is this a V7sus2/V7 chord in bach?
When i was playing this prelude from bach i came across a new chord that i don't usually see in 18th century pieces
Also another question - in writing counterpoint in bach style it looks like two ...
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can anyone help me in writing a quartet [closed]
hi i've been doing some analyzing and after learning counterpoint and 4 part harmony and studying a little about forms today for the first time i wrote a period to turn in into a ternary or a simple ...
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Fourth species counterpoint treating fourth
I'm so confused why does in fux book he treats the P4 as a consonance and leaps from it instead of resolving it down to a third( measure 7 )
Also how common is going above the cantuse firmus in ...
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moving into parallel compound intervals counterpoint
in strict counterpoint and i'm talking about fux's book
is having 2 parallel perfect intervals with contrary motion still wrong?
because in fux book only contrary and oblique motion are acceptable for ...
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The relation between voices in piano pieces
I've been trying to understand how to identify the voices within the harmonic progression they form, after learning counterpoint and SATB harmony.
But when I'm investigating the relation between ...
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In counterpoint why can I not harmonize a 3rd to a 5th interval in the outer voices?
I am studying counterpoint and have a 3rd moving outward to a 5th. I now want to harmonize these two intervals (adding inner voices) and wherever I put them in the major scale it sounds poor and not ...
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Looking for an alternative guitar tuning to fit classical counterpoint exercises
Have a very strange problem, hopefully there is a lurking genius who can solve it cause I'm stumped.
I'm studying a stuffy counterpoint composition manual written hundreds of years ago and trying to ...
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Problem with modal counterpoint
I'm new to counterpoint and this time i tried challenging myself by writing a counterpoint in second species in phrygian E
I'm sure there are problems with my counterpoint and wanted to see if anyone ...
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Is this cross relationship acceptable when compared to a Bach example?
Below is some counterpoint I wrote for a small fugue exposition...
...I have a concern with the cross relationship of F♯ and F♮ at the first beat of measure 3.
I looked about in Bach for a similar ...
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Counterpoint question: "2 quarter notes at the beginning of the measure cause the melody to lag." Fux Palestrina Counterpoint
A question that has been nagging me for a long time regarding counterpoint is the idea of avoiding "2 quarters at the beginning of the measure as the melody tends to lag." as per Johann Fux. ...
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In Organum and Species Counterpoint why is one of the voices always in whole notes?
Edit: It was pointed out to me that counterpoint spawned from the Organum style of music. For more context, here’s information from two sources I just read. “Two styles of Organum existed during this ...
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In the musical texture “monody”, can the underlying harmony be provided with a single voice?
According to these wiki pages
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monody
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homophony),
in Monody, ”one solo voice sings a melodic part, usually with considerable ornamentation, ...
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What is the difference between background, middle ground, and foreground?
Is the idea of structural levels background, middle ground, and foreground only studied in schenkerian analysis?
I’m still viewing the background as the simplest layer of a song, which to me would be ...
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Voice Leading in Göncz’s completion of Contrapunctus 14
My question relates to the attached extract from Zoltan Göncz’s completion of Bach’s Contrapunctus 14 from The Art of Fugue, and specifically the chord marked with the arrow.
To my mind, it appears to ...
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What is the music theory term for the study of the role and rhythm of each voice in multi voice compositions?
I’m looking for the for the study of the role and rhythm of each voice in multi voice composing. For example “lead part/voice/melody or supporting part/voice/melody”. By rhythms what I mean is the ...
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Why does Schoenberg think of "'semi-contrapuntal treatment' of the accompaniment" as a way of adapting a motive's melody to changes in its harmony?
Schoenberg says that the melody of a motive may be adapted to changes in the harmony "[b]y transposition," "[b]y addition of passing harmonies," or "[b]y 'semi-contrapuntal' ...
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Exceptions to exposed 8ves/5ths?
I was recently approached by a student, who swore that they had read that exposed (i.e. outer voice hidden) 8ves/5ths were permitted between different inversions of the same chord. He said he came ...
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Why isn't a P4 allowed on the upbeat in second species counterpoint?
You are supposedly only allowed to enter and leave a dissonance by step in species counterpoint and use consonant skips on the upbeat. however, in any triad an arpeggiation would very frequently ...
user35708
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Resolving scale degree 2 in v7 to 3
Are there any circumstances (at least in the common period use) where the scale degree 2 in V7 goes up to 3 as opposed going down to 1?
Why does this seem to be disallowed in textbooks, even more than ...
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What does this counterpoint rule mean?
I'm using a Musescore extension called Counterpoint Analyzer 0.4, and I am not sure what one of the warning messages refers to.
Please see numbers 1 and 2 in the following:
Any thoughts as to what ...
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What does Hindemith's Rule 20 mean? (The Craft of Musical Composition, book 1: Exercises in two-part writing)
Paul Hindemith's Rule 20 in his The craft of musical composition: Book 2: Exercises in two-part writing has two paragraphs:
Paragraph One:
If the last tone of the model is approached from a fifth ...
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How to identify this Bach Fugue [closed]
I'm trying to identify this fugue subject attributed to J.S. Bach in "Treatise on the Fugue" by Andre Gedalge (page 363 here: https://s9.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/5/59/IMSLP243942-...
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Is George Bizet's l'Arlesienne suite an example of counterpoint?
I've always loved the l'Arlesienne suite, and intrigued by the way the two melodies overlap near the end. Is there a specific musical term for this overlap? Is is counterpoint, or round, or something ...
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Six questions about Rule 21 in Hindemith's Craft of Musical Composition, book 2: Exercises in two-part writing [closed]
I am a musician reading Hindemith's Craft of Musical Composition, book 2: Exercises in two-part writing by myself. I have some questions about Rule 21.
Three images of Hindemith's rule 21:
https://www....
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What is taught in an atonal counterpoint course?
One of the main strengths of studying tonal and/or modal (pre-tonal) counterpoint is understanding dissonance treatment within those idioms. Additionally, one learns how to navigate some of the ...
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Bar 48: A3+B4 and B3+A4 - ODE TO JOY Symphony no. 9, opus 125 Extract from a piano transcription by Franz Liszt
In Bar 48 of the fourth movement - "Ode to Joy", Symphony no. 9, opus 125, in this extract from the piano transcription by Franz Liszt, there are three counterpoint melodies, marked in the ...
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Why does species counterpoint not consider harmonic function?
From what I understand, harmonic function came later but since most modern harmony textbooks teach harmony using functional harmony, shouldnt species counterpoint also be adapted to include harmonic ...
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How to play the 1/32-notes rhythmically relative to the base voice in Leiki Ueda's "Chronicles of Narnia"? [duplicate]
I am trying to figure out how to play the following 1/32 notes (in green) in Leiki Ueda's rendition of "The Chronicles of Narnia – The Battle".
My intuition would be to start them on the ...
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First Species of Counterpoint rule involving the next to last bar
In Alfred Mann's The Study of Counterpoint, there is a passage that explains a rule basically restricting the interval of the last bar to a minor third if the cantus firmus is in a lower register, or ...
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Rules for improvising intermediate notes in basso continuo
When realizing figured bass, passing notes in the bass are analyzed quite thoroughly in literature (e.g. The Art of Accompaniment from a Thorough Bass). However, I cannot find any information or rules ...
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Is it possible to write a phase-shifted pattern that obeys the rules of classical counterpoint?
Is it possible to write a phase-shifted pattern in the style of Minimalist phased looping on Gibson Echoplex Digital Pro that obeys all the classical counterpoint rules? Each note of the pattern will ...
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Rule on doubling the second rather than the fourth when using ligatures
I was going through the ligatures in 4 parts exercises from Fux's Gradus. On page 133, Aloys says, "Finally, in the sixth measure of the same example the fourth is doubled, although as a rule one ...
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Are parallel 5ths still problematic if the texture switches between 2 and 3 voices?
This is a 3-part counterpoint I am working on. It is not a strict counterpoint exercise but I want to try keep within the guidelines as much as possible. In m. 19 the middle voice (in red) stops ...
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what are the options for the penultimate measure in the 3rd species counterpoint
Mr. Fux says:
Then, Mr. Fux does:
In Gradus ad Parnassum (Mann's translation).
Is the last one a mistake? There's nothing written in the book that it's a mistake.
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what was a skip according to fux and what is it in general
I wonder what a skip actually is for Fux. Because, in Gradus he says a reversal is needed after a skip but then he does something like that:
To clarify, I've no problem with how it sounds, it sounds ...
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Voice leading errors in Bach's WTC 1 fugue in C major?
Bach is supposed to be the master of all things music, but in the first fugue of the WTC (BWV 846), there seem to be a lot of counterpoint errors and voice leading errors. In the Urtext edition, there ...
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Fux Counterpoint
In Fux's study of First Species modal counterpoint, why is it permitted to raise the 7th as he approached the final cadence. I realize that allowing that creates a leading tone which sounds better, ...
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Question on the definition of a dissonant passing/neighbor tone?
I am currently trying to teach myself counterpoint following Jacob Gran's videos. When I was analyzing my exercises today, I thought of this question. If the first two notes of a dissonant neighbor(or ...
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What is the difference between a double fugue and a fugue with multiple countersubjects?
The double fugue is apparently a type of fugue with two subjects. What I don't understand is what differentiates a second subject from a countersubject, and why a so-called double fugue cannot be ...
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How to study part-writing as a self-taught musician?
I've recently picked up Schoenberg's "Preliminary Exercises In Counterpoint" after reading most of "Fundamentals of Musical Composition" as he indicates there and in other texts ...
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consonant skips in 2nd species counterpoint
From The Complete Musician by Laitz
Consonant skips are motions by a third.
Well, I think we have a confusion here because by saying 'consonant' I suppose Laitz implied that both vertically and ...
user88063
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Harmonic Voices Alongside Counterpoint
I'm writing a piece for a rather large ensemble:
full string section
SATB choir plus soloists
2 of oboe, bassoon, and trombone
c-g timpani
In one of the sections, the chorus sings a fugato while the ...
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