Last updated - June 26, 2019
This page describes my working through exercises from Kent Kennan's book "Counterpoint" (Prentice Hall, 3rd edition, 1987). I've been reading the text and doing the graded exercises in the associated workbook. This is my first serious study of classical theory since college and since my studies of various ethnic/folk idioms, and perhaps my experience here might have some relevance for readers who have moved back and forth between the classical and folk idioms.
Most of my counterpoint exercises I've documented with pictures from the relevant manuscript notebooks. Complete compositions from this project that were worth typesetting may be found on the page linked below:
Before college, I had absorbed an ideal of musical composition that highly prized originality, risk taking and "rule-breaking". I suspect this is a common view in Western art music. In contrast, the Balkan scene highly values fidelity to the original, although that fidelity has been interpreted in different ways. There "that's original" is more likely an insult than a compliment.
In the Bulgarian idiom I am most familiar with, it is my view as a musician gains expertise strict imitation naturally leads to idiomatic craft in "setting a tune". This in turn leads to tune tinkering, which in turn leads to original composition. In Marcus Moskoff's words "you make the music your own and you make your own music". This stikes me as rather similar to the apprenticeship method in ateliers - by the time you're making your own original works, you are well versed in the style.
I recall rather vividly my aesthetic failure in a fugue class in college. Reconsidering it now, I suspect my lack of stylistic understanding strongly contributed. Bach's style, which we were ostensibly imitating, is fairly specific and one I had not (at that point) consciously studied as distinct from other classic composers (although, I clearly could recognize it at an intuitive level.) Due to this lack of specific stylistic understanding, I was drawing ideas from all over the classical stylistic map, resulting in a ill-defined stylistic jumble.
Since college, I have at times put in major time playing and studying the Well-Tempered Clavier. I'm hoping pairing this experience with my better understanding of what constitutes a style in ethnic music will give me a better basis on which to renew my counterpoint studies.
Note: I have the 3rd edition of the text and the 4th edition of the workbook, so there are occasionally mismatches and omissions. The chapters numbers here correspond the the book.
I found Kennan's guidelines on good melodies to be very useful in thinking exactly about the process of "setting a tune" that I've approached intuitively up until now.
Seemed straight-forward. No problems.
This section, covering 1:1 and 2:1 diatonic exercises, I found extremely gratifying. Using ethnic-music-improved sense for melody (along with Kennan's guidelines), I found these exercises simple and aesthetically rewarding. I thought, "wow, counterpoint is going to be a snap!"
Here "cf" above a staff indicates the given line (cantus firmus). A "cf" below a note or notes indicates that this particular note was given as part of the exercise.
1:1 exercises: page 5, page 7.
2:1 exercises: page 11, page 13, page 15.
Spoke too soon above. The chromatic exercises in which secondary dominants play a major role are harder for me - I can't hear them well in my head and have to work them out on the piano. My intuition fails me. I think this is because while I gained a great sense for diatonic melody in ethnic music, I almost never used secondary dominants. How to familiarize myself with them now becomes an issue. My first thought is to work through the WTC paying particular notice to them.
Here and later, a frowny face indicates substantial displeasure with how the exercise turned out.
This chapter covers several topics:
3:1 - page 19, page 20, page 21, page 22.
4:1 & Mixed species - page 23, page 25, page 26.
Suspension exercises include both fill-in-the-notes exercises (indicated by page #) and free-form short compositions (indicated by "Sus Ex #").
I found writing these very helpful improving my harmonic imagination. Each piece is indicated by "SP#".
My initial attempt at canon was a miserable failure. After some consideration, I decided to not attempt to write an extended piece or an exact canon, but just a few bars of inexact canon that moved to a reasonable harmonic conclusion. I would start the canon exactly, but modify the response to fit the harmonic direction I needed to go. This approach was much more rewarding.
Standard Canon at different intervals
Inverted (contrary motion) Canon at different intervals
Augmented Canon - 2 attempts (one failed).
I browsed this chapter, but did no exercises.
Oh, lots of fun here! Started off with writing countermotives (CM) to motives provided in the workbook (M):
On page 43 of the workbook were exercises in extending sequential patterns. These seemed to come very naturally to me. I worked them out at the piano, but did not write anything out.
Next, I tried writing the first page (10 manuscript staves) of inventions based on Kennan's themes from pp 41 & 42. These involved an initial exposition and a sequence or two modulating to a 2nd exposition in a new key (usually dominant or relative major/minor). These were fun and informative exercises.
Next, I tried writing full-length inventions. The formula was as follows: initial exposition in tonic, episode modulating to dominant or relative major/minor, 2nd exposition, several more episodes and expositions in related keys (no more than one sharp or flat away), final exposition in tonic, coda. The first invention motive (F major) came from Kennan. The others are original. Computer markup of the inventions below may be found on the page linked below:
Some observations on writing Inventions:
On to three voices! The exercises below follow the same form as those for two voices: add 1:1, 2:1, 3:1 and 4:1 counterlines for a cantus firmus. Suspensions become more interesting in 3 parts, and I found myself using them extensively in later chapters.
Following Kennan's guidance, I write several short pieces in three voices. Nothing deep here, but they were fun projects, and allowed me to bring my developing 3-voice writing to bear on a "complete" (if small scale) piece of music. These pieces were more musically successful than the short two-voice pieces I did a few chapters ago, so I typeset them and put them up on the page below:
This chapter talks about tonal and real answers to motives or subjects. It was very useful, but I have no exercises to go with it.
I read this chapter, but ultimately decided against writing three part inventions (symphonia). I don't find Bach's 3-part inventions nearly so compelling as his two-part ones, and felt my lack of inspiration would turn writing them into a dull and scholastic exercise. It seemed that with only a slight increase in complexity, I could move on to fugues, for which I had much greater love.
Finally, on to the subject that originally motivated my counterpoint studies - fugues. This chapter provides guidance and several exercises in writing fugal subject, answers, bridges and episodes. I found myself unable to evaluate the worth of a subject without writing and answer and developing it into a complete exposition. In most cases, I filled most of one manuscript page per exercise comprising a 3 or 4 voice exposition and (if space was available) an episode and a restatement of the subject in a new key. The exercise with Workbook page #s below provided varying level of guidance in choosing keys, answer, bridges, etc.
On page 81 of the Workbook, Kennan provides eight fugal subject, drawn from a variety of composers, to which I added one of my own. I tried to write a 3 or 4 voice exposition and a first episode and restatement of the subject in a new key, subject to the constraint of a single manuscript page. Excepting the subject by Bizet (#5), these worked pretty well. The subject composer is listed in parentheses.
Some observations on writing fugal expositions:
It's late June 2019, and I just completed my first fugue. Yay! It's not particularly great, but it moves along pleasantly and with precise execution seems only mildly repetitious. I realized half-way through the exposition that the theme is one Beethoven used (opus 110), however I don't view this as a particular problem. It's a study piece after all, and written much more in the style of Bach than of Beethoven. Resetting themes from other composers seems a well established tradition. This fugue and those that will hopefully found may be found on the page below:
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