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DON WRIGHT FACULTY OF MUSIC

MUS 1639 — GIM I

**For each playing assignment, bring the assignment sheet itself; but, do not bring a written
out solution of it. You must prepare well enough to perform these without a notational aid
beyond what is given. Any student bringing a written-out solution into the test room will
automatically receive zero and will be asked to leave the room.**

**For every question on every assignment, however, you are allowed and encouraged to write
in a roman-numeral analysis.**

Playing Assignment One, Species Counterpoint:

In this assignment, you will be playing two species-counterpoint exercises. The purpose of these
exercises is to reinforce your spatial, aural, and musical awareness of intervals (both consonant
and dissonant) and the musically successful voice leading between pairs of intervals. Also, the
exercises give you the opportunity to express your creativity by constructing counterpoints that
have a singable and musical melodic line and that avoid tonally confusing motions, such as
parallel perfect intervals. Lastly, the exercises get your fingers moving around the piano and will
help you begin to internalize the spatial and physical dimensions of intervals on the keyboard.

All the instructions you need to complete these exercises may be found in chapter 2 of the Laitz
textbook. The summaries on pages 94–95 and 101 are particularly helpful. Additional practice
exercises and helpful tips may be found in the “playing” sections of chapters 2 and 3 of the skills
workbook.

Part one: construct and play your own first-species counterpoint observing all the stylistic and
voice-leading rules applicable to the exercise. Below is a sample first-species counterpoint to
study as you prepare. The cantus firmus is in the bass:

Remember that you are allowed to write in the intervals you will use between the staves.
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Part two: realize the second-species counterpoint indicated by the intervals in the middle of the
grand staff.

Here is an example of a completed second-species counterpoint above a cantus firmus:

Playing Assignment Two, the Rule of the Octave:

In this assignment, you will learn to play the “Rule of the Octave,” or, the règle d’octave. The
Rule of the Octave is an eighteenth-century didactic template for harmonizing bass lines
according to the scale degree of the individual pitches within a given key. As you can see in the
examples below, scale degrees 1 and 5 take root-position tonic and dominant chords, while every
other pitch supports an inversion of an appropriate diatonic harmony in the key:

Major mode:

Minor mode:

The Rule of the Octave proved useful to musicians in two important ways: first, it provides
accompanists and composers with idiomatic harmonizations of a diatonic bass line that may be
used freely and successfully; and second, it is an aid to solo performers in improvisation using
tonally grammatical harmonic progressions. It concretizes the concepts of mode, key, and
harmonic coherence, and it is an eminently practical tool for composers and performers.
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For you, practicing the progressions of the règle will develop your ability to construct diatonic
chords of different qualities, your internal grasp of the physical and kinaesthetic aspects of
playing voice leading and chord progressions at the piano, and your facility at navigating the
keyboard with all of your fingers. The “playing” exercises in chapters three and four of the Laitz
skills workbook provide additional practice in the same technical abilities required to complete
this assignment successfully.

Part one: play two different realizations of the règle in ascending and descending motions in the
keys of C major, G major, A minor, and D minor. Your examiner, for example, may ask you to
execute the following: play the descending progression in C major; play the ascending
progression in D minor; and etc. Follow the templates exactly in their spacings and voice-leading
motions. There is no room for improvisation here…

Part two: harmonize the unfigured bass line using only the exact chords, spacing, and voice
leading from the Rule of the Octave template. Decide which chords to use above the bass
according to the exact templates provided by the règle. There is only one correct harmonization
here!

For the more adventurous among you, try to arpeggiate the chords as in the example below. This
is entirely optional, but also more fun!

Playing Assignment 3, Tonic and Dominant:

In this assignment, you will begin playing paradigmatic tonal chord progressions in different
contexts and situations. The first application occurs in the context of exploring short tonic
prolongations on the keyboard using dominants and dominant-seventh chords. You will be asked
to play the progressions in a variety of keys. The second application is in the context of realizing
a figured-bass exercise in which you must complete the chords above the bass as indicated by the
figures.

For you, the purpose of these exercises includes, but is not limited to, the following elements: to
reinforce your aural awareness of the distinctive tonic-to-dominant tonal gravity through
practical application at the keyboard; to cement and kinaesthetically augment your grasp of the
stylistically appropriate voice leading between these chords by observing these motions on the
physical space of the keyboard and under your fingers; to increase your tonal inner ear and pitch
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perception by coordinating heard sound with the physical means of producing sound at a real
instrument; to teach you the basic harmonic and contrapuntal building blocks of tonal music; and
to increase your fluency at the keyboard, an essential element in the life of a musician at any
stage and in any career.

Keep in mind that musical learning is maximized when we can engage our whole selves in the
process, i.e., when the abstract learning in the mind is combined with the kinaesthetic learning
we gain by realizing those abstract concepts physically at an instrument. For some of the reasons
mentioned above, these playing assignments also aid your dictation work greatly. As you play
through your keyboard-harmony assignments, you are simultaneously training your ear to
recognize the tonal sounds that your dictation work asks you to identify and notate.

As you work through these exercises, you will be building upon the initial chord-forming skills
you began to develop while practicing the Rule of the Octave. You will also recognize many of
the same sounds and voice-leading motions from the règle.

Part one: play the tonic prolongations in any major or minor key up to and including two sharps
or two flats. For this task, your examiner will ask you to play three different chord progressions
in the major or minor key he or she chooses. During your practice, concentrate on computing
mentally what the tonic and dominant chords of these keys are before trying to execute the
progression. Do not simply rely on finger motions as abstracted from particular chord
membership as this practice does not contribute to successful learning. Instead, coordinate the
two elements, the physical and the mental.

Here are some models to work with as you practice the chord progressions in the keys indicated.
The spacing and voicing given in these models are only options among many different
possibilities. You may follow mine or choose your own:
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During this exercise, make sure always to be aware of correct voice leading, especially the
correct resolution of the tritone within the dominant-seventh (the leading-tone up by semitone,
and the chordal seventh, or 4 of the key, down by semitone).

Also, you may play in an SATB texture with two voices in each hand (i.e., soprano and alto in
the right hand, and tenor and bass in the left), or in a “keyboard” style with only the bass in the
left hand. You may also freely mix the two playing styles as desired or needed. This holds for
everything you play on every assignment.

The playing exercises in chapters 5 and 6 of the Laitz skills workbook should help you through
both this exercise and the next one.

Part two: realize the figured bass in the given key. Here, you will be stringing together the
isolated chord progressions found in part one into a longer musical passage. This is precisely
how you should think about this exercise: many small chord progressions joining together to
form a larger, tonally coherent whole. Tonal music is hierarchical in this way: smaller self-
contained tonal motions combine additively to create larger complete tonal motions with shapes
that mirror the motivic, contrapuntal, and harmonic qualities of their components.

If you are new to this kind of activity, a good method is to practice first with outer voices only
and then add the inner voices later. Having the outer-voice framework in place first will
determine the boundaries between which to fit the inner voices. Practicing outer voices first will
also help you to develop the overall sense and sound of the passage in a technically achievable
setting before you work on the additional challenge of getting all your fingers involved.

REMEMBER: while you may not bring in a completed SATB solution to the exam room,
you are completely free (and greatly encouraged) to complete a roman-numeral analysis
below the score!

Playing Assignment 4, More Tonic Prolongations and Figured-Bass:

In this last playing assignment for the term, you will continue practicing tonic prolongations and
realizing a figured-bass exercise. This assignment introduces an expanded vocabulary of passing
and/or neighbouring dominant-seventh and diminished-seventh chords that prolong tonic
harmony. As opposed to the leaping harmonic bass lines in the last assignment, the chord
progressions you will practice in this assignment incorporate the smoother, more melodic bass
lines that you encounter in music everyday. The comments above concerning the purpose of the
exercises in assignment three also apply here; so, I will not repeat them again.

The playing exercises in chapters 7 and 8 in the Laitz skills workbook will help you prepare for
this assignment.
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Part one: realize the following tonic prolongations in any major or minor key up to and
including two sharps and two flats. For this task, your examiner will ask you to play two
different chord progressions in the major or minor key he or she chooses. During your practice,
concentrate on computing mentally what the tonic and dominant chords of these keys are before
trying to execute the progression. Do not simply rely on finger motions as abstracted from
particular chord membership as this practice does not contribute to successful learning. Instead,
coordinate the two elements, the physical and the mental. Remember that one of the main goals
here is to build up your fluency with building chords quickly in all keys, both with your fingers
and mind.

In every case, be sure to resolve dissonances and tendency tones correctly, i.e., the leading tone,
chordal sevenths, and tritones. These elements are involved in both the dominant-seventh and the
diminished-seventh chords. An important thing to watch out for is unequal fifths in the resolution
of the diminished-seventh, as you should avoid these. Unequal fifths occur when a diminished-
fifth resolves to a perfect-fifth (by the way…perfect-fifths are allowed to move to diminished-
fifths). This can happen in the diminished-seventh when the diminished-fifth between 2 and b6
move to 1 and 5 respectively. One way to avoid this is to try to plan your spacing in advance so
that this fifth is inverted into a fourth, i.e., having b6 below 2 instead of above it. Or, you could
just pay attention to the diminished fifth and lead the voices in contrary motion, i.e., 2–3
underneath b6–5. Remember also to lead out of the diminished-seventh by step and never by
leap.

Here are some models to work with as you practice the chord progressions in the keys indicated.
The spacing and voicing given in these models are only options among many different solutions.
You may follow mine or choose your own:
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Again, you may play in an SATB texture with two voices in each hand (i.e., soprano and alto in
the right hand, and tenor and bass in the left), or in a “keyboard” style with only the bass in the
left hand. You may mix the two playing styles as desired.

Part two: realize the figured bass in the given key. Here, you will be stringing together the
isolated chord progressions in part one into a longer musical passage. This is precisely how you
should think about this exercise: many small chord progressions joining together to form a larger,
tonally coherent whole.

That’s it for the first term! Have a great break, and see you in January!