Quote:
Originally Posted by rumbler  Thanks,
Wow seems alot harder than I thought it would be..  |
Well, the good news is that everything you read about is describing a
style of counterpoint. Most are based on Palestrina's style, I believe. Every composer who writes contrapuntally develops their own rules for what is and isn't allowed.
Any time you write with multiple melodies you're writing counterpoint. It's as simple as that. You could sit down at your desk and write a piece of contrapuntal music right now, if you wanted.
What you get from a study of counterpoint is two things:
1. Guidelines for writing balanced, flowing melodies. This is where the rules for which melodic intervals are permissable and which melodic figures are allowed come from.
2. Guidelines for choosing melodies that don't lose their independence to one another other. This is where the rules against putting dissonances on a strong beat and against parallel motion come from.
If you don't follow these rules you're not writing bad music, or even bad counterpoint. You're writing music with less flowing melodies and with less clearly independent lines. When you want to change that, study counterpoint. But don't feel like you have to know all the rules before you can even take a stab at it.
