Species Counterpoint
Studied the second half of the semester, species counterpoint is one of the foundations that modern musical composition is based upon. Through careful application of rules to simple, one line melodies, beautiful music is created.
Counterpoint ExamplesCantus Firmi
Being my first-ever musical composition, I believe the two examples of cantus firmi I have written are decent first tries, breaking only two rules in the second exercise and none in the first. However, there is much room for improvement - not much musicality was put into these examples when I wrote them.
First Species
This example is once again passable, with only two mistakes. But yet again, I failed to put much musicality into the piece. Although it is difficult to compose with the constraints of all these specific rules, it is possible to make music out of counterpoint.
Second Species
In this final example I finally succeeded in making the exercise musical by spending more time at the piano in order to hear what my composition sounded like, then tweaking notes from there. Although the example isn't technically perfect (but only one rule broken!), it is the composition I'm most proud of - a form of "aural" communication that is pleasing to the ear.