Like my Elementary Harmony, this book is for beginners, and for students in schools of music who have to learn only a limited amount of Strict Counterpoint, and have a very small amount of time to devote to the subject. I have therefore tried to find the simplest and quickest way of arriving at three-part Combined Florid Counterpoint. For the sake of brevity, I have been compelled to be dogmatic. But those who so desire can verify the statements from my larger Art of Counterpoint. This book goes only as far as Counterpoint in three parts. But there is no further technique to learn, no matter what the number of parts; it is merely a matter of licence as to consecutives. Counterpoint in four or more parts only differs from that in three parts in the increased difficulty of manipulating more parts. I trust therefore that, while the book is intended primarily for beginners, it may also be of service to more advanced students. There are various new features in the book.
(1) Simple Counterpoint is studied in two and three parts simultaneously. Good two-part writing is really the result of three-part study. It is only attained when the harmonic implications of two-part work are realized.
(2) When the semibreve is the unit, the barring is so arranged as to mark the proper accentuation. (First and Second Species, uncombined.)
(3) In Chapter VI an attempt is made to arrive at the technique of Combined Florid Counterpoint, without going through the somewhat tedious procedure of working long exercises in the various combinations of species. The difficulties of maintaining definite patterns for ten or twelve bars are not involved in combined florid work. Thus separate Exercises of a bar or two at most are given in combinations that will be required in florid work. The technique covers every possible combination, presented in as systematic a way as I can devise.
I have also explained the technique in harmonic terms, which considerably simplifies matters for beginners.
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