Counterpoint Fundamentals
What you’ll learn
- Improvise two-part Inventions
- Learn the fundamental principles of harmony
- Employ intervals for developing melody and harmony
- Invent polyphonic music at the piano
- Apply the principles of voice-leading
- Improvise coherently with either hand, separated or together
- Appreciate counterpoint as a strategy for improvisation and composition
- The three main categories of Counterpoint: Homorhythm, Polyphony, Ornament
- How to integrate coherently melody and harmony
The goal of the course is to introduce students to the technique of Counterpoint as a way to make music intuitively and creatively.
It is a practical course: students will learn through improvisation the principles behind two-part invention and polyphonic voice leading by exploring Counterpoint at the piano.
Each module will explore an aspect of Counterpoint: rather than being a presentation of different kinds of Counterpoint, each class adds to the principles discussed in previous classes and guides the student to slowly master them at the piano. By mid-course students can therefore expect a significant raise in the level of complexity: I therefore encourage to practice the material covered in a class extensively before moving on to the following module. Two or three days (2-3 hours of practice) is the minimum time suggested between classes.
The course will guide through the 3 main stages of Counterpoint invention: homorhythm, polyphony (counterpoint species), ornamentation. We will start from the theory of Intervals, the principles of effective melodic conduct, the relationship between the parts; we will then start exploring harmonic combinations and improvise appropriately; we will introduce the different species of Counterpoint and investigate the creative boundaries within them; we will discuss best practices and preferred solutions to common problems, by looking at a variety of examples from the existing repertoire; we will explore creative options and develop new musical ideas based on counterpoint principles; in the final modules we will create a full two part invention step by step.
The course is intended to music students who have an intermediate proficiency in piano and familiarity with music notation: although much of the course is designed for practical purposes there will be musical examples to read and musical exercises to write.
Who this course is for:
- Pianists who wish to make music in an intuitive way, by mastering the underlying principles of harmony.
- Musicians/students who wish to develop practically their understanding of classical music style composition, as a strong foundation for all other styles.
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