Path
What to study before Counterpoint
Writing two or more simultaneous melodies, each one worth hearing on its own. Below, the concepts that come before, in the order in which one explains the next. Signed in, you see the same path minus what you already hold: your path.
Properties of sound
The four properties every musical sound has at once: duration, intensity, pitch and timbre.
Note
The seven pitch names, and the sign that puts one of them on the page.
Tone and semitone
The smallest distance Western music uses, and the whole tone built from two of them.
Interval
The distance between two sounds, counted by note names, melodic or harmonic, simple or compound.
Chord
Three or more different sounds at once, and the difference between the model and its many positions.
Voice motion
Direct, parallel, oblique and contrary motion, and the fifths and octaves they are not allowed to reach.
Counterpoint
Writing two or more simultaneous melodies, each one worth hearing on its own.