How to Compose 1:1 Counterpoint || Tonal Voice Leading 1
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- čas přidán 30. 03. 2020
- This video teaches how to compose a counter melody against a given melody in a 1:1 rhythmic proportion (also known as note-against-note, or first species counterpoint). This was the method that many of the great classical composers used to learn the essentials of voice-leading in Western music, including Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.
Examples by Schubert and Salieri 1:53
A Walkthrough 22:30
Homework 31:58
Tonal Voice Leading Playlist:
• Tonal Voice Leading
My new counterpoint course on Teach:able
jacobgranmusictheory.teachabl...
/ jacobgran
#musictheory #musiccomposition #schubert #salieri
![How To Write Chord Progressions With NEGATIVE HARMONY [Simple Explanation]](/img/n.gif)
“You have to unlock them, by getting to the next level”
Mans made a video game from studying counterpoint 😂😂😂
Yeah, I thought that reference was awesome. I'm going to use it with my students.
👍👍👍
Is there an app yet?
Use the whole Fux's book as the game scenario
@@ostromogilskaiamaria5268 ññ la qqqñq
I remember reading that Beethoven studied with Salieri for a time. He had a lot of influence on the next generation of composers. It's a shame that Amadeus has created a bad view of him within our modern culture.
The view that that movie cast on him was terrible. What happened was Salieri opposed the monarchy at the time, and in retaliation they destroyed his reputation. He was actually friends with Mozart (they composed music together) he sent his daughter to study piano with Mozart, and while Mozart traveled throughout Europe performing he actually performed some of Salieri's music. Whenever I hear Salieri (even if it is a piece I have never heard) I always know that it is him. He had a style all his own. It's sad that it's only been recently that his music is being revived. All that we can take from what happened to him is that politicians sure do suck!
@@paulquantumblues3599 Salieri’s acting was comedy gold
@@paulquantumblues3599 So the Court Composer opposed the Monarchy? Interesting.
@@tdswen1 Yes, that's what I read. I believe that that is even written on his Wikipedia page. Yes, he and Mozart were somewhat rivals when Mozart first arrived in Vienna, but Mozart was new to Vienna. So, there was going to be competition between him and the established composers, but eventually Mozart and Salieri became friends. Salieri even got Mozart composition jobs, and conducted some of Mozart's works, and vice versa. Revisionist history sucks!
@@paulquantumblues3599 What did you read? Which language? Everything in english is second choice, only literature in German from solid sources is an evidence, a - bad - movie, from the historic standpoint, is not a clue. Please, do yourself a favor, don´t quote Wikipedia as a source, it´s ridiculous.
13:10 “We may not use dissonances in this exercise. You have to unlock them by getting to the next level.” Brilliant. I laughed out loud. Outstanding videos. Thank you, sir!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Don't you just love it when the final level has an additional level for no real reason? Me too.
Thanks! I have no idea why CZcams decided to recommend this to a random Korean student who knows absolutely nothing about composition, but anyways I watched the entire thing and I really enjoyed it as a music lover. I never knew music composition is done this precisely and carefully. I think I'll watch more of your videos and expand my knowledge about music composition! Thanks for giving me a first step!
this comment is amazing
would it not be most incredible if this random event made you change your major and become a composer?👍
Edit: Audiation exercise? Wow, thats worth the price of admission alone.
At first I thought this was a bit dry, but I was drawn in so deep as it went on. A nice, mellow contrast to the "hyped up" style of most CZcams videos. Its like a meditation mixed with a lesson... beautiful! Thank you so much!
I expected these videos to get like 12 views, so I designed it to be a resource for teachers or people who want to learn independently. I made it very dry on purpose, and I am still surprised so many people watch it despite that!
@@JacobGran Haha yeah all good man. The information is gold, honestly. And you put it across in a way that is easily digestible, yet still very thorough and correct . I'm already on suspensions 1. When i strike it rich with my songs, im going to load up your Patreon ✌🏻
Finding gems like this has saved me thousands on lessons and school 😂
Your speaking style makes it very easy to pay attention to what you're saying. Love it, thank you.
Thanks for watching!
I've been looking for series about counterpoint on CZcams for a while, and never been stratified until this.
Thank you!
Great video, thanks so much Jacob, for anyone else working through the exercises in the PDF, I wrote out some of the notes for lesson for reference:
Given Melody - Cantus Firmus (8 to 12 notes)
*****************************
The fewest possible notes that still give the impression of complete compossion (that can't be broken into seperate parts)
Want to be able to split attention between two melodies
Melodic Fluency - Melody takes very little mental effor to keep track of
- Mostly Stepwise (Allows prediction of changes)
- Leaps are made by Consonant intervals
Consonant Leaps:
- 3rds
- 4ths (Except for F to B) (4 to 7)
- 5ths (Except for B to F) (7 to 4)
- 6ths
- Octaves
Dissonant Leaps (Avoid)
- 7th
- Aug
- Dim
- >Octave
For any large leaps, they should be followed with a 'Recovered' movement in the opposite direction (Larger than a 3rd) and more important for upward movements than downwards (What goes up, must come down)
The Cantus Firmus always begins and ends on the root
*****************************
Intermediary goal of Melodic Motion, which is far away from the root to ensure seperation from the root notes which begin and end the passage (The Highpoint Consonant)
When a counterpoint is written above the Cantus, it can begin on scale degrees 1, 3 or 5, if below the cantus it must begin on 1
The secret to an interesting counterpoint comes from the way the two melodic curves interact, not from either melodies on their own
Cantus Firmus should not use tone repeatitions, the counterpoint can, but it should be kept to a minimum
*****************************
Categorization of counterpoint notes in relation to the Cantus Firmus:
Perfect Consonances - Unison, 5ths, 8ve
(Too Stable, avoid using twice in a row, unison only at the start or end)
Imperfect Consonances - 3rd, 6th, 10th
(Most useful for this exercise)
Disonant Consonances - 2nd, 4th, 7th
(Unstable, gives the impression of repelling the other melody line)
*****************************
Types of Motion:
1. Contrary Motion
2. Direct Motion
- Parallel Motion (Same interval in both voices) - Use Sparingly
- Simular Motion (Same direction, different interval)
3. Oblique Motion (One voice remains static)
*****************************
1:1 Counterpoint Rules:
1. No Dissonant Harmonic intervals
2. No Direct Motion to a Perfect Consonance
*****************************
Counterpoint BELOW the Cantus
- Counterpoint must start on the root note
- Instead of aiming for high note as the goal, aim for a low note
*****************************
Tips for Counterpoint creation
- As counterpoint needs to end on root, place this note first
- Use contrary motion for the second to last
- Avoid starting the counterpoint with either
- a 3rd (too close to the first voice)
- Anything higher than a 10th
- Compose in medium sized chunks as opposed to one note at a time
- Don't have the high points in both voices occur at the same spot
*****************************
Thank you so much, this is really helpful!
Not all heroes wear capes! ❤
They don’t teach audiation because they can’t grade it. Same has happened in many fields. And thus did accreditation destroy education. You’re a good man for valuing the real over the measurable.
Did this in music theory class many years ago. It was 5 part counterpoint and our teacher had different students singing each different part…it sounded astounding.
where have you been all my life. This is amazing
Is this video recommendation from CZcams like a level unlock reward for surviving 2020?
Searched for such instructions and teaching but never found it before today!
Thank you, teacher!
Thank you, that is very generous!
Calling Salieri a mediocre lunatic was all I needed to hear to subscribe to your channel.
Thank you for this. I graduated with a masters in music from Stony Brook University, and for some reason they skipped over this. I can write Bach Chorales with ease, analyze all sorts of insanely hard pieces, but I always felt incomplete because I never learned this. It may take some time, but I am going to go through all of these videos. Thank you so much!
You're welcome! I had a similar experience in my music education, which is why I become obsessed with historical counterpoint for a few years and ended up making these videos.
Same. It's crazy to teach Schenkerian analysis to someone who hasn't even had basic counterpoint yet.
Bach is the master of counterpoint.
Yeah, Bach Chorales ARE counterpoint fundamentally.
Just curious, how do you "write Bach chorales with ease" if you don't know 1:1 counterpoint?
This is god tier content. Thank you so much.
You’re very welcome! Thank you.
These videos are really phenomenal -- as a jazz pianist I never got this in my curriculum in music school. Although I've done exercises to try improvise over tunes in what amounts to naive, rules-free "free counterpoint," I've always wanted to get beyond my clumsy, mostly instinctual understanding of the way counterpoint actually works and these videos are awesome and an amazing labor of love. Looking forward to following along with all of them. Thank you!
Thank you!
I studied to get into uni to do music and was SO lucky to have a teacher who was able to teach me this stuff; it's optional these days in the UK. It really gave me a firm foundation for all subsequent compositional work.
I am two minutes into your video and I am already about to cry tears of relief because I had only taken one semester of music theory before I decided to try out the contrapuntal techniques course. The only prerequisite was diatonic and chromatic harmony, but “A Practical Approach to 18th Century Counterpoint” is full of words and concepts that I’m not familiar with and there are so many of them that I feel like I have to reach for google every two sentences. I’ll reply to this comment after I’ve watched the full video, but I’d just really, really like to thank you for putting this out here.
You are an excellent teacher and every bit of information is presented in an easily-digestible way, using metaphors when appropriate and offering definitions for terminology that may be unfamiliar. You did a really excellent job with the instructional portion of this video and I will now go ahead and work on the assignment. Seriously, thank you for making this.
Your not wrong about the applicability in general of counterpoint. Most of the jazz greats also studied it, and even in rock and roll, Frank Zappa was a master of very advanced counterpoint (in his 'serious' orchestral he tended towards serialist atonal stuff, but with a very disciplined counterpoint), and he used it extensively in his prog-rock and fusion jazz compositions. This is the secret sauce folks.
Oh man I haven’t listened to Boulez Conducts Zappa in years. Time to look that up again.
Look up Ted Greene
I did the composition homework you suggested. I think I followed all the rules, but even if I made a mistake I still understand all the concepts and I feel prepared to move on. I am looking forward to continuing and finishing this series
Check the translation. It's the clearest and the best tutorial . I'v been working counterpoint for four years but at that time Internet didn't exists ....
I'm not a musician or a music student, just a music lover, but you explained this real well. Thanks for putting it out there.
Just get a DAW and start messing around. 😅
This is an awesome Counterpoint refresher! Thanks a bunch.
I’m a Computer Engineer for a living, but waaaay back in the mid-late 1980s, I took the usual Freshman and Sophomore Theory and Ear Training.
I’ll be retiring soon, and my #1 goal is to “phoenix” my Music life, including (if not especially!) composition. So, this sort of refresher is perfect!
Thanks again!
This video is gold. There isn’t another smooth explanation on the web about the subject, it’s easy to grasp if you are new to counterpoint. Thanks!
Carlos Andrés glad you liked it!
This was incredible. I have been introduced to all of these concepts separately but never had them woven together in a way that actually made sense to me.
Thank you, glad you got something out of it!
When I studied counterpoint this was the High Point of my musical education. But counterpoint only made sense after I studied harmony for two years. Counterpoint is absolutely essential to good music composition. Good job my friend.
Great video! I look forward to the rest of the series, as well as your other videos.
Thank you Dr. Gran for all your lessons, tutorials...!! I'm learning a whole lot... Looking forward to more...
It's great to be reminded of these fundamental ways to construct separate-and-yet-still-related musical structures that stand as both melodic and harmonic concepts. This makes me want to practice this kind of contrapuntal activity again. Thank you.
I love this! Beautifully explained. Great rules! It's like solving a puzzle!
i love composeing! im not good on the composing but now when i know this... i can FINALLY this
This gotta be THE single best video regarding 1:1 counterpoint on youtube, that i've seen so far. Incredibly well structured, easy to understand and interestingly moderated. Thank you!
I love counterpoint. I started studying it out of personal interest (I wanted to learn the fugue and needed to put down the necessary building blocks), and I've become more competent in writing singable melodies. Not only that, but I've also observed a general improvement in my musical taste.
It's a pity that the composition teacher at the conservatory where I'm enrolled decided to make it an optional part of the composer's academic curriculum :\
Great video, BTW
Thank you!
I came here also to be able to write my own Fugue
Thanks so much for the video. By far the best explanation I’ve seen on the Tubes. Learned so much in one sitting...nicely done.
Oioioi, hats down!
What an incredibly precise and well explained lesson that is!
Not one word too much, not one word too few. And sooooo much of unlocked secrets to the art of polyphonic pleasant music!
Even if I won't compose myself (lacking the time at the moment), it certainly will help me also understand the compositions I sing and play.
Schubet's 200 year old homework assignment is more studied than some of his contemporaries masterworks.
I love the little jab at the movie character around 18:50. “…mediocre lunatic.”
I don't know how to write music at all but here I am watching this.
this is amazing, thank you for posting this so anyone has a chance to try to learn this for free
You are the best teacher young man I’ve learned alot here in Zimbabwe by your videos
This video is so amazing. I never even knew of such a teaching system before. It is most excellently presented as well. I have watched it twice today but there are still many elements I failed to grasp. I think I need to spend more time with it . . .
Great video. I studied counterpoint a few years ago on my own. I'm glad according to your lesson I was doing it correctly! I just subscribed and look forward to watching all your videos. Thanks
Excellent! Thank you.
Thank you for this tutorial! I played one of The Counterpoint 1:1 Melodies and it felt awesome! I took Harmony Classes in College Of San Mateo so this video was just to refresh myself on the things that I’ve learned in that class! Thank You so much!
That's incredibly useful, thanks!
Thank you for this content. I know you hear it all the time but this is so incredibly useful and inspiring.
Beautiful lesson.Really like the way the motion of the melody affects an overall change in emotion too.While composing I constantly find a challenge to naturally come up with a phrase that feels complete and this solves that to a great extent.Thank you for your time and effort.
A really instructive and helpful video tutorial for first-year music students on music theory Counterpoint using a Cantus Firmus! It was really easy to follow along even as a second year student !
I don’t even need this tutorial since I don’t compose, but I’ll still watch all the ads and the video since it seems very interesting
Thank you!
Thanks so much, this video is a blessing! I am long since obsessed with writing counterpoint but always lacked solid fundamentals, which I can now improve upon.
Thank you! When I made these videos I hoped they would be used exactly this way.
I subscribed to your channel just because of this video! Very informative and digestible!!! Thank you so much for putting these educational videos out for free. I really appreciate your effort and dedication.
This is the best Counterpoint tutorial I have come across with the right amount of analytics, sense and justifications which can shape up great counterpoints !
Glad it was helpful!
Best videos Prof. Gran I never had the explanations made with clear Ideas and rules illustrated with great simplicity. Please go on making more videos...if you wrote a book please let us know. Thank you.
Thank you, this is really helpful.
This was fantastic! Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Glad it was helpful!
This is brilliant, after years of struggling with Fux, it’s opened up all the ideas for me- thank you.
Exactly what I needed. Great work.
One time i thought about creating a jazz piece after playing many standards. I was thinking to use this approach as i don't even know about a good approach. Never knew this is actually used. Glad to come across this. I've already made a piece but i wanted it to sound richer in chords and voice movement. Thanks for making this kind of video.
Thank you so much Dr. Gran for such a great video... by far the best lesson on counterpoint on youtube..!
Glad you like it!
This is a superb counterpoint lesson. Bravo!
Thank you, thank you and thank you. Exactly what I was looking for, explained exactly the way I wanted for it to be explained.
Glad it was helpful!
@@JacobGran still helpful 6 months later and I'm sure it'll still be helpful 6 months from now
Awesome channel Jacob!!
This is brilliant, Thanks!
Suspiciously, that Antonio Salieri image looks a lot like F. Murray Abraham and I've never seen them in the same photo together. 🤔
😲
The comment was meant in jest, but I just had to check out the dates. Salieri died in 1825, and the first photograph was taken in 1826 or 1827. So if you had a picture of Salieri, you'd have a picture of a ... [slips on sunglasses] ... DE-composer.
I can't imagine a better video of it's kind in understanding this topic. Much
Thanks.
Thank you very much!
Great video and presentation! Such a clear breakdown of a tough topic. Your analysis of the examples was great, and added to what I was missing from Fux. I'll work through this and then re-apply your thoughts to Fux part one. And your insistence on audiation is **just killer** and is so necessary. Thank you very much! (ps - You wrote in another comment that you expected this vid to get 12 views. Closing in on one million. Well deserved)
This is great content. Thanks for putting this up.
This is the best playlist for big brain theory I have ever seen holy flip
You are a phenomenal teacher. Thanks for these!
Thanks for the video. Extremely in depth and well done.
Perfect series , love to watch it all!
Thanks a ton!
Thank you for the in-depth information!
i couldn't find a counterpoint tutorial better than this
thanks a lot man👍👏
You're welcome!
Fantastic video!! Please keep them coming. You're an amazing teacher, thanks so much for sharing the knowledge!
Thank you!
thanks for mixing the theory with the art and ensuring that the student has vision of a pragmatic approach
Excellent presentation. Ty
I am very pleased because I am now learning to compose a second voice to the song melodies I play. I shake your hand . Thank you. Alan
Great video!
I understand what never understood when I was taking counterpoint as a vocal student! Thanks!!
You're very welcome!
Increíble lección. Muchas gracias!!!
This was fantastic. Great job
Thank you!
Thank you so much for this!
Thank you for making such a lucid and generous explanation.
You're very welcome! Glad it was helpful.
Hello Jacob. I watched this before and I enjoyed it. I am going to watch it again now and try it out later today. So thanks for posting it
Amazing content, very helpful. Thank you.
Incredible video, thank you Jacob! Do you have any references for treatises/writings that discuss audiation as these composers may have practiced it? Love your channel and look forward to more videos 🙏
Thank you for making this video, is very useful and interesting. 👍
Very good job, really good and persuasive explanation of the artistic aspect of the rules that seem to be strict and restrictive otherwise!! You are a techer!!
So much love to you!! Thank so much for such an awesome video and help!!!
Great job, thanks!
I can relate to Salieri. I understand from personal experience what it is like to not kill Mozart.
"We should avoid long parallel motions"
Bach's wtc 1 c minor fugue: Hold my beer
but they usually occur over sequences or shorter note values (16th notes). Over sequences we can let a lot of things go since sequential repetition takes precedence. In free counterpoint, parallel motion with shorter note values is quite common since they pass by so quickly.
@@BachtotheBasics bar 13-14 of the C minor fugue from the WTC book 1 are literally two full measures of parallel thirds in the bass clef. Somewhat odd and a bad example of what good counterpoint looks like imo. But it's Bach so who's anyone to say anything about it
@@julianmanjarres1998 Like I said, they usually occur over sequences. Bars 13-14 of his c minor fugue outline a sequence.
this is low key the funniest comment ive seen in so long
Take it from a Jazz guy, the trick to breaking rules, is to learn them first :)
thank you, very clear
Thanks a Bazillion this is what I needed I have studied but an in depth counterpoint was needed , teach on!! Sir
Love this video! Easy to understand and apply :) Thank you for share your knowledge with us
Beautiful. I recently decided to learn music formally. Bach and Vivaldi are my favorites, but my music is between ambient and instrumental. Thanks for the quality info. Greetings from Bolivia.
How wonderful!! Many thanks for providing such a clear and concise tutorial. And your speaking voice is so very easy on the ears :-)). Yours in Gratitude
Glad it was helpful!
This is amazing, thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Thank you; glad you enjoyed it!
Wonderfully presented. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Just found your channel and I can tell from the first video I'm watching its fantastic. I appreciate the succinct, informative approach
Thanks, I try to keep the videos succinct. This one is a half an hour long, so I'm not so sure how well I've succeeded, but I appreciate that someone can tell I'm trying!
@@JacobGran it's great, I've been trying to do the homework actually but I'm a bit confused. Would you mind clearing something up? So I understand I can only use consanances for this exercise, do the minor versions of an interval still count? Ex would both a major and minor 3rd (or 6th) also count as consonant?
Spencer Robinson Yes, all diatonic (I.e., white note) thirds, sixths, and octaves are consonant. All diatonic fifths are consonant except for the one between F and B.
@@JacobGran awesome, thanks for clearing that up, its simpler than I was making it in my head :p