DIVING DEEPER INTO COMPOSITION

(part 17 of 20)

Counterpoint

Fugues, cannons, and other contrapuntal types of music should only be attempted once you can play them. Having the ability to improvise in free counterpoint is also very important. It’s crucial that you thoroughly internalize contrapuntal elements so that your ear is always your guide.

Bach was a master at composing using these techniques, but not because he read books on counterpoint (not much was written on the subject back then). He mastered them by learning to play them and to improvise with them. He could fluently improvise 3 part fugues and canons! Just as you breathe air, he breathed counterpoint.

Start by playing a few famous rounds (Three Blind Mice), then try composing a simple one yourself. Having written a good number of successful preludes will also serve you well when composing in counterpoint as the overlapping melodies shift harmonically and modulate through various keys.

Next

---

Index

• Introduction
• Why Piano?
• Improvisation:
  • Performance-Improvisation vs Composition-Improvisation
  • Learning to Improvise
  • More Improvisation Techniques
• Notation:
  • Computer Notation
  • Learning Notation
• Related Skills/Knowledge:
  • Music Theory
  • The Artist Trains the Mind’s Eye, the Composer Trains the Mind’s Ear
  • Ear Training
  • Musical Form
• Composition:
  • Getting Started with Composition
  • More on Baroque Dances, Simple Forms, & Repetition
  • Composition Exercise using Baroque Dance
  • More Advanced Composition
  • Other Forms
  • Counterpoint
  • Aesthetics
  • Writing for Other Instruments
  • The Elusive Creative Flow