# First Species of Counterpoint



## Jord

I want to make sure i've got a good understanding of the first species of counterpoint before i move on so if someone would kindly review my notes and give me feedback it would be much appreciated 

My overall generalisation of the First Species is this:

_First Rule_: Perfect Consonance to Perfect Consonance must be in contrary or oblique motion
_Second Rule_: Perfect Consonance to Imperfect Consonance can be contrary, direct or oblique
_Third Rule_: Imperfect Consonance to Perfect Consonance must be in contrary or oblique motion
_Fourth Rule_: Imperfect Consonance to Imperfect Consonance can be contrary, direct or oblique

Dissonances aren't allowed (2nds, 4ths and 7ths)

Must stick to the mode of the cantus firmus except in the 2nd to last bar if the interval of a major 6th if the cantus firmus is in the lower part or a minor 3rd if the cantus firmus is in the upper part, this therefore means that the 2nd to last note in the counterpoint will always be a leading note/7th degree of the scale

When the cantus firmus is in Dorian, Mixolydian and Aeolian the leading note can be raised a semitone.

*The last bit i'm not sure of*
Battuta (Beaten 5th/8ve) Both voices can't move in contrary motion from a perfect consonance into a perfect consonance


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## Ramako

Jord said:


> _First Rule_: Perfect Consonance to Perfect Consonance must be in contrary or oblique motion
> _Second Rule_: Perfect Consonance to Imperfect Consonance can be contrary, direct or oblique
> _Third Rule_: Imperfect Consonance to Perfect Consonance must be in contrary or oblique motion
> _Fourth Rule_: Imperfect Consonance to Imperfect Consonance can be contrary, direct or oblique


Yes 



Jord said:


> Dissonances aren't allowed (2nds, 4ths and 7ths)


Yes. Also diminished 5ths of course (p. 35).



Jord said:


> Must stick to the mode of the cantus firmus except in the 2nd to last bar if the interval of a major 6th if the cantus firmus is in the lower part or a minor 3rd if the cantus firmus is in the upper part, this therefore means that the 2nd to last note in the counterpoint will always be a leading note/7th degree of the scale


Yes 



Jord said:


> When the cantus firmus is in Dorian, Mixolydian and Aeolian the leading note can be raised a semitone.


In the second last bar the leading note must be raised, but other than that I can only find one example *in this species* where this happens, which is in the G-mode where the leading note is raised in bar 11 (p. 39). B flats have more of a tendency to crop up. In general it is best to just not use accidentals (except the second last bar) unless you are going to encounter - a) diminished fifths - b) false relations - c) direction of motion. Most likely a or b. See p. 39 for reference.



Jord said:


> *The last bit i'm not sure of*
> Battuta (Beaten 5th/8ve) Both voices can't move in contrary motion from a perfect consonance into a perfect consonance


Yes. I tend to ignore this to be honest, but then it is a long time since I did 2-parts. Even Fux says you can choose whether to bother about this or not.

The only way to learn counterpoint is to do the exercises - if you are unsure of whether you are doing the right thing or not - if you like you can send me some pdfs (or sibelius files if you do them on that) of your exercises and I will be happy to have a look at them. As indeed Aloysius tells Joseph, it is very hard to avoid mistakes at the beginning, no matter how hard you try to memorize the rules.


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## Jord

Ramako said:


> false relations
> 
> The only way to learn counterpoint is to do the exercises - if you are unsure of whether you are doing the right thing or not - if you like you can send me some pdfs (or sibelius files if you do them on that) of your exercises and I will be happy to have a look at them. As indeed Aloysius tells Joseph, it is very hard to avoid mistakes at the beginning, no matter how hard you try to memorize the rules.


What are false relations?
and thank you! Do you know any decent programs or ways to write down scores on pdfs?
Thanks for the help as well!


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## Ramako

Jord said:


> What are false relations?


If you have a note with an accidental closely followed by a note without an accidental it can sometimes sound bad. Similarly if you have a note without an accidental closely followed by a note with an accidental it also be bad. This is only sometimes though. It is a term used for later music (not one I particularly like) but the essentials of the case are discussed on the page with the G example I mentioned above.


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## kurdeine

Jord said:


> _First Rule_: Perfect Consonance to Perfect Consonance must be in contrary or oblique motion
> _Second Rule_: Perfect Consonance to Imperfect Consonance can be contrary, direct or oblique
> _Third Rule_: Imperfect Consonance to Perfect Consonance must be in contrary or oblique motion
> _Fourth Rule_: Imperfect Consonance to Imperfect Consonance can be contrary, direct or oblique


For the second and fourth rules: you can also have similar motions
For the fourth rule: you can also have parallel motions


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## Ramako

kurdeine said:


> For the second and fourth rules: you can also have similar motions
> For the fourth rule: you can also have parallel motions


similar motion is the same as direct motion, and parallel motion is a subset of direct motion is it not, making it the same? Or do I misunderstand your terminology?


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## kurdeine

Ramako said:


> similar motion is the same as direct motion, and parallel motion is a subset of direct motion is it not, making it the same? Or do I misunderstand your terminology?


I think it's just the same, but I found it easier to understand that way. Its from Bruce Benward's book. Because if I have just direct motions without specifying whether parallel or similar, I might be using them incorrectly, and I could only use parallel movements with the IC(imperfect consonants)-IC. So I tried to create my own formula on doing that:
PC(perfect consonance), IC(imperfect consonance), C(contrary), O(Oblique), P(parallel), and S(similar)

PC->PC: CO
IC->PC: CO
PC->IC: COS
IC->IC: COPS

I hope that helps..(^^,)


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## Kopachris

I never read Fux's book, but I found Kitson's book to be very, very concise, simply listing the rules plainly and with plenty of examples for all species. It might help you, if only for reference. I must admit, though, I never bothered to memorize those rules.


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