Species Counterpoint: Species Ii printable pdf download

music theory for musicians and normal people by toby w. rush

Species Counterpoint: Species II

second species

counterpoint adds a

touch more

complexity:

there are two notes

against every one in

the cantus firmus.

fortunately, that doesn’t make it twice as difficult: in fact, most of the previous rules

still apply without any changes.

there are only a few exceptions:

species i

species ii

rule:

leaps are still fine, but don’t leap to a new high point on a downbeat.

the a in the third measure is a

no leaps

new high point for the line,

larger than

so leaping to it on the

a perfect

downbeat puts a lot of weight

fifth*

on that one note, making it

stick out of the texture.

*excepting, of course, ascending minor sixths and perfect octaves, but you already knew that.

still true... for downbeats. for the

unaccented beats, dissonant intervals

are fine, as long as they happen as

only use

passing tones: notes that fill in a

consonant

third created by surrounding notes.

intervals.

oh, and notice how dissonant intervals

have their numbers circled? nice, huh. You should do it too.

unisons

can only

unisons can be used on unaccented

be used

notes... just be careful about

on the

crossing or overlapping voices!

first and

last notes.

this rule still applies: if you use a perfect interval on a downbeat,

you need to use contrary motion from the immediately preceding

approach

notes, and at least one voice must move by step.

perfect

intervals

however, you must also be careful not

using

to have the same perfect interval on

contrary

two successive downbeats. This is

motion

called parallel perfect intervals

with at least

and it’s going to be a no-no for a

one voice

good long time.

moving

(in fact, it’s also not okay to have parallel perfect intervals from

by step.

the unaccented beat to the downbeat, but if you are approaching

with contrary motion, that wouldn’t happen anyway .)

not too bad, is it? yeah! bring on third species!

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Species Counterpoint: Species Ii

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