The Art of Composition: Counterpoint

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The Art of Composition: Counterpoint

Postby Dr_Dissonance » 10 Sep 2012 21:40

Greetings esteemed reader! I’m assuming you’re here because you would like to learn something. If you don’t, then this website might be of more use to you.
Still here? Good! This is going to be part of a set of guides into the sections of music composition that people seem to forget, or find a bit daunting.
Things like counterpoint (ala this guide), dissonance, key changes, unconventional chords, voice leading and many more will be covered when I have time to do them.
This is NOT for basic composition. I will be assuming that you do know basic theory already. If you don’t, this website is a good place to start.
Still here? Oh thank goodness. I was worried I’d have no one to talk to...alright, lets delve into what we’re going to be looking at today.


1) What is Counterpoint?

This guide is going to look at counterpoint and countermelodies. But what on earth are they?
The Oxford Music Dictionary (it’s Oxford, so you know it’s legit) defines counterpoint as:

‘The ability, unique to music, to say two things at once comprehensibly.’

That’s actually quite vague, so we’re going to add to that and say that counterpoint is when you have two or more melodies that work together, but remain independent.
Now I can hear you saying “Two melodies? I have trouble with one!” That’s okay, as later, I will be giving you a walkthrough of how to make one.
But in the meantime, a bit more on what counterpoint is.
We’ve already established that it’s multiple melodies, but how do they interact? Well, usually there’s some kind of similarity between them.
The most common (and the one you’ll undoubtedly keep to) is that they’re harmoniously linked. For example, they could be in the same key, so they slot together nicely.
I think the best way of thinking about counterpoint is like a jigsaw puzzle. When you have one melody, you’ll have one jigsaw piece with a portion of a picture on it.
Some counterpoint is another jigsaw piece which slots with your original piece, but has a different part of the picture on it. They fit together nicely, but have different things printed on them.
That’s like counterpoint! Two or more melodies which fit together nicely, but are quite different.
As an extra, countermelodies are essentially counterpoint, but the extra voices are much more melodious than normal. In a way, this makes it regular counterpoint.
I just confused myself...


2) An Example of Counterpoint - Warriors of the Balloon

Now that we’ve established what counterpoint is, lets look at an example. I’m going to use my piece: Warriors of the Balloon.
Why? Well, because I know the piece, so it’ll be easy to decipher and it shows that you don’t have to be a musical god (aka Bach, Beethoven, Freddie Mercury) in order to do this thing.
We’ll specifically be looking at the bit from 2.40 to the end, as the first iteration of the melody is very syncopated, so wouldn’t be very helpful.
Here’s the main melody and the counterpoint underneath, see if you can hear them both:
Image
And the score (enjoy reading the alto clef):
Image
As you can see, the top line is quite active. Lots of quick movements up and down its respective range. The lower voice however, is quite static, using fairly long and metric note values.
But it is still quite melodious.
So they’re obviously very different to each other. When creating this, I devised the 2nd melody from the first and built up this lovely counterpoint.
Now, I originally put them in very different ranges to show their differences, but here they are together:
Image
Looks a bit more complicated now, doesn’t it? Don’t worry, this is meant to look complicated, it’s a sign of a good counterpoint! But note how each melody interacts.
There’s some points where one goes down, one goes up, both go down and both stay the same. This interaction is crucial for counterpoint as the more interactive each melody is with each other, the better!
Lets see HOW I made it now.


3) How the Counterpoint Example was Made

I mentioned before that I devised the 2nd melody from the first. But how?
Simple! I treated it like how you’d normally write a melody, but with more limitations.
I started by deriving what the chords were of the original melody. Here it is, with chord names and roman numerals underneath:
Image
It’s not too complicated a chord progression. Besides the Italian 6th, all the other chords fit into fminor nicely.
Using this information, I created the counterpoint. The beginning chord is fminor, so I could use F, A or C on strong beats.
The next one is C, so I could use C, E or G on strong beats. And so on.
Looking back at the counterpoint:
Image
You’ll see that I used an F for the first bar and then an E and C for the second.
But what about the 3rd and 4th bar? What did I do there?
Well, I followed the chord progressions, but I also created a descending sequence that iimitated the top line, so there’s some interaction!
Note that in order to do this, DbMajor had to become DbMajor7, to incorporate that C. Still worked perfectly though!
The remaining counterpoint followed each chord as its guideline.
So basically, I created a new melody, with the limitations of the other one.


4) A Counterpoint Exercise

If you’re still reading this, chances are you’re so close to asleep that I could type yawn and you’ll fall down unconscious.
yawn yawn yawn yawn
Still awake? Good, you can do this then.
I figure that the best way to learn is to do, so here is a nice melody:
Image
It’s more of a classical melody, but I made it in 5 minutes, so there. You can check out the piano roll equivalent yourself.
HERE IS THE MIDI!!!
I have given you the chords. What I want you to do is to try out your own counterpoint using the information given.

Have fun and to help you along, here’s some tips:

There’s 3 instances of a rising sequence in there, specifically Bars 1, 3 and 5. What will your counterpoint do? Copy it? Go in the opposite direction? Hold a note there?
Bars 2 and 6 just have crotchets. Maybe make the counterpoint more dynamic at these points?
There’s a triplet in Bar 4. Will your counterpoint have any triplets?
There’s nothing stopping you from breaking the rules a bit. Want to make one chord a 7th chord? Feel free!
The final Bar just has a held note. Will you put a flourish in, or just have it as a big final chord?


I hope this has helped in any way, shape or form and I hope orchestral musicians now take time in their pieces to produce wonderful counterpoint!
If you want some feedback on any counterpoint you make, feel free to give me a buzz!

Dr Dissonance

Tumblr Version: http://drdissonance.tumblr.com/post/313 ... unterpoint
Google Docs Version: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JUk ... S4fWU/edit
Last edited by Dr_Dissonance on 13 Sep 2012 08:05, edited 1 time in total.
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So we’ll hunt you. Because you can take it. Because you’re not our hero.
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Re: The Art of Composition: Counterpoint

Postby Warbalist » 11 Sep 2012 02:14

You're so nice for posting this for everyone. A lot of work, to be sure. I do see, however, oblique and parallel fourths and octaves. Bach would not be pleased...
...
...but he's dead, and music has evolved over the past 260+ years, so rock on!
\m/
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Re: The Art of Composition: Counterpoint

Postby WavesOfParadox » 11 Sep 2012 03:57

Yeah, this is not what I learned from J. J. Fux's book...
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Re: The Art of Composition: Counterpoint

Postby Lopsided » 11 Sep 2012 05:30

Dr D, you make me learn things. It is a good feeling.
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Re: The Art of Composition: Counterpoint

Postby Fimbulin » 11 Sep 2012 05:40

So liek, should I write a few of these tutorials now that I'm taking college level theory?
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Re: The Art of Composition: Counterpoint

Postby Dr_Dissonance » 11 Sep 2012 08:42

Warbalist wrote:You're so nice for posting this for everyone. A lot of work, to be sure. I do see, however, oblique and parallel fourths and octaves. Bach would not be pleased...
...
...but he's dead, and music has evolved over the past 260+ years, so rock on!
\m/


Ha ha, I don't want to scare people away with the suppressive, skull crushing force of Baroque/Renaissance Counterpoint! I like to be a bit more free with mine.
Tubeyou
You are the hero My Little Remix deserves, not the one it needs.
So we’ll hunt you. Because you can take it. Because you’re not our hero.
You’re a silent guardian of music, a watchful protector of songs.
A doctor of dissonance.
-Phillypu
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Re: The Art of Composition: Counterpoint

Postby Warbalist » 11 Sep 2012 10:20

Dr_Dissonance wrote:Ha ha, I don't want to scare people away with the suppressive, skull crushing force of Baroque/Renaissance Counterpoint! I like to be a bit more free with mine.


Freedom is is much better than slavery, and I totally agree with you. The only argument I have in ordering people to learn old-school counterpoint is so their musical knowledge goes from slavery to freedom. :lol:
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Re: The Art of Composition: Counterpoint

Postby Sonarch » 11 Sep 2012 20:21

This is really cool! Problem is, schoolwork and getting enough sleep are in the way of me diving right into trying my own counterpoint. HOWEVER if I have time this weekend, and you're still here, I think I shall make one and post it up for evaluation :D

Yay learning!
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Re: The Art of Composition: Counterpoint

Postby Captain Ironhelm » 12 Sep 2012 13:32

I got lost at Club Penguin. (I'm kidding!)

Nice to know the definition of this. Here I was thinking I was developing something unique.
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Re: The Art of Composition: Counterpoint

Postby Kopachris » 12 Sep 2012 15:25

Dr_Dissonance wrote:
Warbalist wrote:You're so nice for posting this for everyone. A lot of work, to be sure. I do see, however, oblique and parallel fourths and octaves. Bach would not be pleased...
...
...but he's dead, and music has evolved over the past 260+ years, so rock on!
\m/


Ha ha, I don't want to scare people away with the suppressive, skull crushing force of Baroque/Renaissance Counterpoint! I like to be a bit more free with mine.

Don't worry. Bach didn't follow the rules all the time, either. In fact, he's probably the most well-known Baroque composer who follows the rules the least.

WavesOfParadox wrote:Yeah, this is not what I learned from J. J. Fux's book...

I would've lol'd at that if I weren't so tired right now. :P I was thinking the same thing as I read through this [nevertheless wonderful] guide.
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Re: The Art of Composition: Counterpoint

Postby prettiestPony » 13 Sep 2012 08:01

Excellent guide! But how come your piano roll picture is a half step lower than the notated melody? :P You tryin' to confuse us? And the link to your MIDI file seems to have disappeared?

In my humble opinion, avoiding parallel octaves and fifths is still an important part of counterpoint even if you're not going the Baroque-ian route, because otherwise the independence of the voices gets muddled, and the whole point of counterpoint is to avoid that. ("Point of counterpoint", wheee, words are fun.)
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Re: The Art of Composition: Counterpoint

Postby Dr_Dissonance » 13 Sep 2012 08:09

prettiestPony wrote:Excellent guide! But how come your piano roll picture is a half step lower than the notated melody? :P You tryin' to confuse us? And the link to your MIDI file seems to have disappeared?

In my humble opinion, avoiding parallel octaves and fifths is still an important part of counterpoint even if you're not going the Baroque-ian route, because otherwise the independence of the voices gets muddled, and the whole point of counterpoint is to avoid that. ("Point of counterpoint", wheee, words are fun.)


Ah yeah, didn't notice that, fixed the link!

The piano roll is a semitone down (totally forgot about it) because in the actual piece, the final section is in Eminor, whereas the original melody was in Fminor, which is what I took the score from.
Woops! Can't be bothered changing it now, but I must remember those key changes I do!

Oh yeah, parallel octaves/fifths tend to be a no-no, but only if the two lines follow the same direction.
For example, both lines go C B A. Or one line goes C B A and the other goes G F# E.
That is generally not considered counterpoint, due to the locking of the two voices. But I think reaching one and continuing around without locking is fine.
Tubeyou
You are the hero My Little Remix deserves, not the one it needs.
So we’ll hunt you. Because you can take it. Because you’re not our hero.
You’re a silent guardian of music, a watchful protector of songs.
A doctor of dissonance.
-Phillypu
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Re: The Art of Composition: Counterpoint

Postby Sonarch » 12 Aug 2013 23:00

Sorry to necro this, I was linked here and realized I had never gotten around to actually trying the exercise! Anyway, here's my attempt https://soundcloud.com/sonarch/counter-point
and I already sought out Dr. Dissonance's feedback, so I may be posting here again with revisions to it.
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Re: The Art of Composition: Counterpoint

Postby Acsii » 13 Aug 2013 06:36

Sonarch wrote:Sorry to necro this, I was linked here and realized I had never gotten around to actually trying the exercise! Anyway, here's my attempt https://soundcloud.com/sonarch/counter-point
and I already sought out Dr. Dissonance's feedback, so I may be posting here again with revisions to it.

Sounding good Sonarch :3
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Re: The Art of Composition: Counterpoint

Postby Sonarch » 15 Aug 2013 01:20

Acsii wrote:Sounding good Sonarch :3
Thanks! :D

Alright I went ahead and changed some of the things that I could find that were wrong with it, based on feedback i've gotten. Here's the result.
https://soundcloud.com/sonarch/counter-point-revision
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