![]() ![]() Many composers from the 18 th to the 21 st centuries have used this method, or some variation on it. While there are many variants on this approach, the chapters here are closely based on Johann Joseph Fux’s Gradus ad Parnassum ( Steps to Parnassus, 1725). Here, the species are types of exercises that are done in a particular order, introducing one or two new musical “problems” at each stage. (So no, we won’t have any elephants or monkeys singing polyphony, sorry!) The term “species” is probably most familiar as a way of categorizing animals, but it is also used in a wider sense to refer to any system of grouping similar elements. We begin with a specific method called species counterpoint. Oblique: one part moves, the other stays on the same pitch.Parallel: the two parts move in the same direction (both up or both down) by the same distance, such that the starting and ending intervals are of the same type (e.g., parallel thirds).Similar: the two parts move in the same direction (both up or both down).Contrary: the two parts move in opposite directions (one up, the other down.Dissonances: all seconds, sevenths, and diminished and augmented intervals.Imperfect consonances: major and minor thirds and sixths. ![]() Perfect consonances: perfect unisons, fifths, and octaves.This chapter recaps some key concepts we met in the Fundamentals section and introduces some basic “rules” that will be relevant for each of the following chapters, including some terms for:.While the “rules” involved are somewhat linked to music in the 16 th century, the idea really is to train basic skills, independent of a specific repertoire or style.Species counterpoint is a step-by-step method for learning to write melodies and to combine them. ![]()
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