Showing posts with label tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tips. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Marking my own work

It's getting harder to be confident in marking my own work. I've adopted a multiple pass technique that seems reliable so far. I'll edit this post if I end up changing my approach.

First pass: check for fifths, eighths, and unisons on the first beat, and make sure they're entered via contrary motion. (I'm especially prone to error when entering the penultimate bar.)

Second pass: scan through for bs and fs. They're always dissonant against each other, so double check any b-f harmonies. Also check for exposed tritones in the counterpoint any time a b or f appears at the peak or trough of a melodic run. If the counterpoint uses any accidentals (for example, in the closing formula) run the same set of tritone leap/exposed tritone checks on the accidental.

Third pass: locate all dissonances, and double check that they are entered and left stepwise, or are part of a cambiata formula.

Fourth pass: scan through the counterpoint and note every jump larger than a fifth. Double check that none of those leaps are forbidden. Also double check that any leap larger than a fifth is "recovered."