The problem it solves
When you write for several voices or instruments, it is easy for everything to sound like compact chord blocks, with no life of its own. Counterpoint gives you the principles to make each line interesting and, at the same time, work with the others.
Detailed theory
Key idea
Counterpoint aims at two things at once: that each line be a good melody on its own (horizontal independence) and that the sum of the lines sound consonant (vertical control).
The basic principles: favour contrary motion (the voices move in opposite directions), keep each voice singable, and avoid parallel fifths and octaves, which make two voices merge and lose their independence.
Understand it
Until now you have looked at harmony mostly 'vertically': which chords sound and how they connect. Counterpoint adds the 'horizontal' view: each voice is a melody with a life of its own. The point is to combine both: independent lines that, sounding together, form consonances. It is the complement of voice leading (vertical smoothness) with melodic independence (horizontal interest).
The central device for achieving independence is CONTRARY MOTION: while one voice rises, the other falls. When two voices move in opposite directions, the ear clearly hears them as different lines. There is also oblique motion (one voice stays still while the other moves) and parallel motion (both move in the same direction), which must be used in measure.
That is why PARALLEL FIFTHS and OCTAVES are avoided: when two voices move in parallel keeping a fifth or an octave between them, they merge into a single sound and the second voice stops being heard as independent; the very opposite of what counterpoint seeks. Each voice, moreover, should be singable: with contained leaps and a clear melodic direction. J.S. Bach is the classic model of this art, and Fux’s species counterpoint teaches it in graded stages.
An analogy: counterpoint is like a good conversation between two people. Each one says something interesting on their own, they answer and listen to each other, and neither just repeats what the other says. If both say exactly the same thing at the same time (the parallels), it stops being a conversation and becomes a single voice.
Chord progression
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The two independent lines forming consonances: they start a tenth apart (low C + high E), pass through an octave (D+D) and close on a sixth (low E + high C). Each "chord" is the vertical meeting point of two melodies moving in contrary motion.
How to recognise it
How it's written
Follow each voice separately, as if you were reading two melodies at once, and look at its profile: where it rises and where it falls. Then compare the two lines bar by bar to see whether they move in contrary, oblique or parallel motion, and check which intervals (consonances) they form on the strong beats.
How it feels
Try to follow both voices at once and notice that each has its own shape; in contrary motion you will hear them part and come back together, like two hands opening and closing. When two voices make parallel fifths or octaves, on the other hand, you will struggle to tell them apart: they sound like a single one.
Common mistake
Making parallel fifths or octaves between two voices: they merge the lines and destroy the independence counterpoint seeks.
Always moving every voice in the same direction (constant parallel motion): you lose the contrast and the lines stop being heard as independent; contrary motion is what separates them.
Try it
Play two lines in contrary motion: an upper voice rising C-D-E and a low voice falling E-D-C. Hear how they are perceived as two different melodies.
Try singing or playing a second voice against a known melody, moving often in the opposite direction to it, and avoid following it in parallel at the same distance.
On the instrument
Staff & keyboard
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Contrary motion: the upper voice rises C-D-E while the low voice falls E-D-C. Play the notes in this order and notice that the two lines move in opposite directions, which makes them feel independent.
Where it's used
- Arranging for several voices
- Moving the instruments in contrary motion (for example violins against the cello) so each line has a life of its own.
- Writing basses and countermelodies
- Giving the left hand or a second voice an independent melodic shape instead of doubling the main melody.
- Analysing Bach and polyphony
- Following each voice separately to understand how they intertwine and which consonances they form in a contrapuntal texture.
Examples
Example with rhythm
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Two-voice fragment in contrary motion. The upper voice rises and returns (C-D-E-D-C) while the low one takes the reverse path (E-D-C-D-E): at the start of bar 2 (high E against low C) the two lines reach their point of widest opening, a tenth, right where the directions cross.
Example with rhythm
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A four-bar two-voice phrase: the lines move almost always in contrary motion and only meet on consonances (they start on a tenth, low C + high E, and close on sixths, low E + high C). Each voice is singable on its own; together they open and close like two hands, with no parallel fifths or octaves.
Generate a new example
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Generate fresh two-voice phrases: the melody (upper voice) and a counterpoint (lower voice) in contrary motion. Press for a new one in another key and hear them sound together.
Exercises
Melodic dictation
Hear a short melodic line and transcribe it note by note.
Complete 5 attempts · 70% accuracy to pass
Phrases with counterpoint
Play the upper voice of a two-voice phrase in contrary motion.
Complete 6 attempts · 70% accuracy to pass
Mini test
Check that you've got it.
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What is counterpoint?