Species Counterpoint?!?!

So... this whole counterpoint thing is really confusing... I am sure that everyone else agrees. But I have been trying to get the hang of everything by playing out things on the piano, just to see if I am getting good sounding intervals, but then its like: Surprise! You cant use that interval because the rules of that Species says so! "tap, tap, tap... Yes, Johann?..." So yeah. Well, I think I can get the hang of things. And I am here for blogging my practicing. So here it is. The one thing that I have been having trouble with in class is singing the solfegge syllables with fixed Do, like with Dorian: re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do, re: re-fa-la-fa-re... I dont really have the brain power to sing that... and think about the lowered 3rd and 7th, which signifies the D minor scale... which I am singing with the regular C major solfegge.... it just confuses my brain. So what I did was I practiced all the modes on fixed do, just so I could possibly get through the class without having to write all the syllables out over each of the notes on the staff, including underlining which ones sound lowered if you are thinking in a major scale way... So I think I am getting the hang of things. Just one less thing to be worried about in counterpoint! That is always a good thing!

Assignment 3.8

I looked at the assignment in the book and at first I didnt know what it meant... but then I sat down at the piano and just started playing scales and it started to click. I started at middle C, which I am sure is everyones favorite... I like it because I dont have to warm up for my voice to sing it correctly... and then I played intervals within that octave, and played the inversions of them. It is fascinating every time I hear it or see it, when I play just any wierd interval and know that I can find the inversion by adding that opposite interval to the one I just played to make 9. And along with the inversions, it was easy to find the opposite of a minor, because the inversion was major, Augmented became diminished, and vice versa. Like the inversion of a minor 6th is a major 3rd. The inversion of a diminished 5th is an augmented 4th. It is just cool! Well I should probably go to sleep now.... see most of you bright and early in fundamentals!

Practicing more...

I sat at my piano for about an hour this morning... I have been basing my practices on Theory homework. I discovered a lot of new ways to determine the intervals the easiest way possible, I am sure it isn't uncommon, because we did it in class the other day. Like finding a minor 7th interval by singing in my mind : "There's a Place for us" in West Side Story, or a major 7th with "Maria" from that same musical. I the perfect 5th is always easiest with "Twinkle Twinkle". Perfect 4th with "Here comes the Bride". A lot of the intervals I couldnt think of anything for I just thought of the solfegge songs that they sang in Sound of Music, like "do- mi- mi, mi- sol- sol, re- fa- fa, la- ti- ti..." Another thing I did this morning was I sang all the scales in C and D, because they are easiest for my range, and I sang them in major, natural minor, harmonic minor and melodic minor, and I tested myself with trying to find the intervals from the tonic to the note, and I seemed to have trouble with a minor 6th in a natural minor... but I will get it. Anyway. ttfn!