Writing and analysis
The formal track's course: voice leading, figured bass, four-part writing, species counterpoint and the pedal point, in the order the tradition teaches them, with writing exercises in every lesson.
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1. The voices
- The smallest movement
Each voice of a chord to the next, common tones held, the rest by step, and the dominant's tritone resolving in contrary motion.
- Four lines you can hear
Soprano, alto, tenor and bass, with the doubling, spacing and motion rules that keep the four voices independent.
2. The notations
- The numbers under the bass
The Baroque notation of chords as intervals above the bass, the abbreviated figures, and how it differs from Roman numeral analysis.
3. The writing
- One variable at a time
Writing against a cantus firmus with one more freedom per species, from pitches to the suspension, up to florid writing.
- The ground that stays
A sustained note under moving harmony, the tonic pedal that steadies and the dominant pedal that builds, and how analysis treats them.