Module 29 mini-test

1. What is counterpoint?

2. What is contrary motion?

3. What is oblique motion?

4. Why are melody and bass especially important?

5. Why can constant parallel thirds reduce independence?

6. What is a counter-melody?

7. Why can passing dissonance be acceptable?

8. How can rhythm help separate voices?

9. What is imitation?

10. What is one of the most useful arranging questions before adding another chord?

Answers

1. The organization of two or more simultaneously meaningful melodic lines.
2. One voice rises while another falls.
3. One voice stays while another moves.
4. They are the outer voices and strongly define both harmony and perceived musical shape.
5. The voices begin to sound like one doubled line rather than independent melodies.
6. A secondary melodic line that complements rather than competes with the main melody.
7. Because horizontal motion can explain a temporary dissonance when it resolves convincingly.
8. Give voices different rhythmic activity rather than making every note attack simultaneously.
9. One voice repeats or adapts material previously introduced by another voice.
10. “Could I create the desired motion by moving an existing voice instead?”

The central lesson of Module 29 is:

A chord tells you what the notes are doing together at one instant; counterpoint tells you where each note is going.

Next is Module 30 — Melodic Transformation: how to take one recognizable melody and systematically alter it through sequence, inversion, fragmentation, augmentation, diminution, octave displacement, reharmonized target notes, motif development, and paraphrase—getting much closer to the “same tune at radically different complexity levels” goal.