Counterpoint for Organists: Exercise With 8th Notes

Today we will write a counterpoint for two voices based on the hymn tune "Oh, Worship the King". In this score you can see the hymn tune in the lower part and in the upper part there are numbers. They mean the intervals above the melody and the key is G major.

Intervals above 8 (10 and 12) are the compound intervals. 10 is a major or minor tenth (a third plus an octave) and 12 is a perfect twelfth (a perfect fifth plus an octave).

The rhythm of this counterpoint will be in 8th notes. That's what we call a 2nd species counterpoint. Notice that the intervals are all consonances (1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, and 12) because in the 2nd species no dissonant intervals (tritones, 2nds, 7ths etc.) are allowed.

In measure 7 there is a 6 with #. This means that we have a cadence in the key of D major here and we need a second sharp - that's C#.

Complete this exercise with pencil. Here is the PDF file for printing. Afterwords play it on your instrument to see if you like what you have created.

Post your time to comments when you are done.