FIRST SPECIES IN TWO PARTS: LOWER COUNTERPOINT (LCP) –
Counterpoint as Bass, Finding and Fixing Errors
In Gradus ad Parnassum, an important 18th century treatise on counterpoint by Johann Joseph Fux, the student in the dialogue submits an example having errors in the counterpoint line below the cantus firmus. Can you spot the student’s mistakes? [mus]
We learned that 2-part, first species counterpoint must always begin with a perfect interval between the two voices. That P5 between G and D in the first bar, however, throws the example into a different mode – from D Dorian to G Mixolydian. [mus] Such “modal wandering” is not allowed in the initial bar. [...]
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LIBRARY REFERENCES, in Alphabetical Order
Fux, Johann Joseph, Gradus ad Parnassum. Reprint of original, in Latin. A Public Domain work. Vienna, 1725.
Link: http://imslp.org/wiki/Gradus_ad_Parnassum_(Fux,_Johann_Joseph)
Schubert, Peter. Modal Counterpoint.
Salzer, Felix, and Carl Schachter: Counterpoint in Composition. McGraw-Hill: New York, 1969.
IMAGE CREDITS, details from Gradus ad Parnassum, Johann Joseph Fux. Reprint of original, in Latin. Public Domain. Vienna, 1725.
Frontispiece.
Title Page.
Cantus Firmus with Lower Counterpoint, p. 48, including student errors.
Playlist on How to Make Your Own Cantus Firmus (4 videos): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLr9RYCj11MSx1-XdfulLNQX0uZLC-hGvR
Watch this Tutorial on C-clefs and other useful info:
Then for practice, you may copy or transcribe the two C-clef lines shown below to Treble and Bass staff, a.k.a. "Grand Staff."
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