Before you begin, please remember that this unit is not meant to be a formal introduction to counterpoint. Because this is primarily a tonal harmony course, we are briefly dipping into the study of counterpoint to introduce voice-leading in its simplest form. I highly encourage you to study counterpoint fully at a later time (if you have not already), because it will change for the better the the manner in which you listen to, study, and perform music.
To begin studying basic counterpoint, we need to establish the fundamental concepts of intervallic consonance, intervallic dissonance, and the types of contrapuntal motion.
From the following examples, determine:
The next two examples show an example of each possible perfect and imperfect consonance. All other intervals are considered dissonant. Make a list of perfect consonances, imperfect consonances, and dissonances. Do any of the dissonances surprise you? If so, discuss why.
Consonant and Dissonant Intervals:
Students familiar with modern music are often surprised to find that a perfect 4th is considered dissonant in this style. The first thing to understand is that the terms consonant and dissonant are subjective terms that are determined within a style. In this case, a perfect 4th undermines the melodic structure of tonality because it implies a weak inversion. Complete understanding of this idea requires a deeper knowledge of counterpoint and implied harmony, so at this point, I ask that you file this away for us to discuss when we get to tonal implications and usage of second inversion chords in Unit 7.
At its most basic, classifying contrapuntal motion is fairly simple to understand. When we compare two melodic lines, there are five types of possible motion:
Each of these types of motion compares the direction of each line (i.e. ascending and descending) and the size of the interval.