First Published: 2023 January 7
Fourth Species counterpoint remains kind of strange, if only because most of the canti firmi1 I write have mainly stepwise motion, meaning that you end up with a lot of chained suspensions. I personally love chained suspensions, so that’s fine with me, but I understand why others don’t.
However, after a nice week of this, I feel ready for Fifth Species. Fifth Species combines all the rules of the other species together kind of.
quarter, half, and whole notes are allowed
dissonances resolve stepwise
dissonances allowed on the downbeat only when suspended
should be singable and pretty
After this, I start with three voice species counterpoint, which I’ll need to look up the rules for.
plural of cantus firums?↩︎