# Getting stuck figuring out a countermelody



## caters

As you can probably tell, I have a main melody and I want to add a countermelody. And, though it isn't explicitly said in the title, I also have a bass line. Here is my melody(Key of the melody is in D major but the piece it is in is in G major, thus the 1 sharp key signature):









And here is the bass line I have going with the melody:









As you can see, I have the piano part in full chords and the cello playing just the roots of those chords.

Here it is together with the melody. Full instrumentation of the piece is shown.









As you can see, I have the melody in the first violin and with good reason. Outside of solos, the only instruments in a piano quintet expected to go into the third octave(which the melody does) are the piano and first violin. The violist or second violinist might do it, if the section is a solo. That isn't the case here. But if you listen to this melody and bass by itself, it sounds bare. And while I could theoretically make a canon out of this melody to make it sound less bare, the results of that are to put it lightly, displeasing. I tried transpositions by both interval and time and just couldn't find the perfect one. All the ones I found had dissonant strong beats which defeats the purpose of turning the melody into a canon in the first place.

So canon is out the window. I could turn this into a fugato, but then where is the subject? Is it the first 5 bars? Is it the whole 20 bars? How does a whole note work as part of a countersubject? So fugue is basically out the window as well. This leaves me with only 1 contrapuntal solution left. Countermelody. Sure, fugues have countermelodies. But there is an inherent structure to the fugue which is similar to sonata form. If I just try to write a countermelody, there is no inherent structure. The structure depends on the melody, and sometimes, it might be non-existent. You can see looking at the picture of the score here that I have up to 2 octaves of space for a countermelody.

But I am stuck as to how to go about writing this countermelody. I know rhythm is part of it. But, given how slow the melodic and harmonic rhythm is already, I don't think rhythm is quite the importance as it would be if say the tempo was fast and involved 16th notes. The tempo here is moderate and the fastest notes are eighth notes. The fact that the fastest notes are eighth notes means that I probably shouldn't go any faster than eighth notes in my countermelody/countermelodies. But is there an easier way than just trial and error to find out what countermelodies work both harmonically and melodically? I am thinking of starting the countermelody(first countermelody if I end up wanting more than 1 countermelody) at bars 5-10 of this section of my piece.

There are a ton of different melodies I could try using as a countermelody here. Some would be going fast enough that they would sound like the main melody, even though that isn't my intention. Others would barely be a melody. Still more would require that I change my bass to fit it. And others might not work at all, even with a change to the bass.


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## EdwardBast

Start over. The piano part is full of voice-leading errors (parallel 5ths, 7ths resolved in the wrong direction, bad voicing). There is nothing about it worth preserving. 

Your approach is all wrong. You've obviously written this melody to fill out a preconceived harmonic progression. You do this in everything you post. That approach is never going to have a good result. 

You need to start with a melodic idea worth hearing in its own right without thinking about harmony or bass lines. Once you do that then worry about how to harmonize it or to add other melodies.


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## caters

EdwardBast said:


> Start over. The piano part is full of voice-leading errors (parallel 5ths, 7ths resolved in the wrong direction, bad voicing). There is nothing about it worth preserving.
> 
> Your approach is all wrong. You've obviously written this melody to fill out a preconceived harmonic progression. You do this in everything you post. That approach is never going to have a good result.
> 
> You need to start with a melodic idea worth hearing in its own right without thinking about harmony or bass lines. Once you do that then worry about how to harmonize it or to add other melodies.


Um, that is exactly what I did. I recorded myself singing a melody, wrote it down, and then figured out what is consonant with each bar and wrote that as the bass line. Then I changed a few things so that outside of the V -> I motions, the voice leading was smooth. And of course, this involved inversion of some of the chords. This isn't for a 4 part writing exercise or any other type of counterpoint exercise so I figured:



> Parallels aren't a big deal. What's more important is smoothness.


So no, I didn't have a preconcieved bass when I wrote the melody. I wrote the melody first and then thought about the bass. And now, I'm thinking about what to do as far as a countermelody.


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## mikeh375

Perhaps you should consider accompaniment figurations first off because something may then suggest itself as a countermelody as you progress. There is much to be learnt from studying how strings and piano can interact at this secondary level and how compositional invention plays an important part in devising idiomatic figures and motifs for accompaniment. Approaching it this way is a different approach and one that can reward study with considerable learning and compositional technique.

Edward has a point about the piano part...I presume it is just to demonstrate your harmony. Applying pianistic technique to the part will then suggest suitable figures for the accompanying strings to work in concert with the piano. At some stage during the working out of the accompaniment, if you keep your wits sharp, a motif will often be implied for further manipulation, maybe as a countermelody or occasional counterpoint.

Thinking about approaches to the elements of composition guided by knowledge of the capabilities of the instrument(s) you are writing for should be part of a composers' way of working and should inform your creative mindset at the writing stage for best results. Inculcate this method of composing and your work will increase in efficacy and satisfaction for audience _and_ players.


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