First Species Counterpoint, Rule by Rule
Species counterpoint isolates one compositional decision at a time. First species isolates the hardest one: how to make two voices sound like two voices.
Topic
Counterpoint
Line against line — species, imitation, canon and fugue, and the rules that keep independent voices independent.
Counterpoint is the craft of writing independent melodic lines that work together. The articles here start with the intervallic framework of first species, extend it to imitation and invertible counterpoint, and use the fugue and its subject-answer relationship as the worked example of the whole discipline.
Fugue Subjects and Answers
A fugue's opening notes commit the piece to more than a tune. The subject's shape and the answer's adjustment decide what can happen next.
Imitation and Invertible Counterpoint
Imitation makes one idea serve two lines. Invertible counterpoint makes those lines interchangeable, and the arithmetic behind it is small enough to check.
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