Cap 6 - FOUR NOTES AGAINST ONE (4: 1)

Question 1

4:1 PATRONES DE GRUPOS DE CUATRO NOTAS

Answer 1

Within the group of four notes. These note patterns nearly always consist of chord tones plus nonharmonic tones.

While they sometimes involve chord tones alone for a beat or two, a continuous use of that device is generally avoided in counterpoint, since the effect is more that of a succession of broken chords than of a real line.

Question 2

STEPWISE MOTION AND LEAP ON 4:1

Answer 2

Stepwise motion followed by a leap in the same direction is particularly poor in 4: 1, especially when it occurs between the last note of one group and the first note of the next.

Question 3

Parallel octaves and 5ths ON 4:1

Answer 3

Parallel octaves and 5ths between part of one beat and the beginning of the next beat are to be avoided, although those between the second note of a group of four and the first note of the next group are the least objectionable and are occasionally seen.

Question 4

SYNCOPATION (FOURTH SPEC/ES)

Question 5

The Suspension

Answer 5

As much as the suspension is the most frequently used device in syncopated counterpoint, some special consideration of it seems in order here.

A suspension involves three elements:

( 1) the note of preparation, which is part of an essential (and usually consonant) interval;

(2) the suspended note, tied or repeated from the note of preparation and nonharmonic to the implied harmony;

(3) the note ofresolution, part of an essential interval. These three elements are labeled PR, S, and R in Example 13.

Question 6

Suspensions to be avoided

Answer 6

2-1
3-4
5-4

Question 7

Most common suspensions

Answer 7

4-3
9-8
2-3
7-6

Question 8

Suspensions vs Retardations

Answer 8

Although suspensions normally resolve downward, upward resolution is occastonally involved, especially in the case ofthe leading tone, with its tendency to move to the tonic note above Such suspensions that resolve upward are somctimes called “retardations.”

Question 9

“Chain suspension.”

Answer 9

Theuse of several suspensions in a row is a device known as a “chain suspension. The chain principle is most often applied to a series of suspensions
based on parallel 3rds.

Question 10

Eighth-note suspensions

Answer 10

A) Eighth-note suspensions (the quarter note being the unit) may occur on any beat.

B) Quarter-note suspensions should occur only on strong beats, since otherwise the normal stresses of the meter would be contradicted.

C) The preparatory note should be at least as long as the suspended note it self.