Counterpoint Basics: Independent Voices

Voice leading (from the harmony unit) asks how to connect one chord to the next smoothly. Counterpoint asks a related but different question: how do you write two or more melodic lines that each sound like a real melody on their own, while still combining into good harmony? It's the difference between harmonizing a tune and writing a second tune that happens to fit with the first.

The oldest, most reliable starting discipline is species counterpoint: begin with note-against-note writing (one note in the second voice for every note in the first), using only consonant intervals, and prioritizing contrary and oblique motion over parallel motion — the same anti-parallel-fifths/octaves instinct from voice leading, but now applied to two lines that are equally melodically important, not a bass line supporting a top melody.

Once note-against-note feels natural, the classic next step adds passing tones and other non-chord tones on the strong beat's off-beats, letting one voice move faster than the other. This single change is what turns a stiff harmonization into something that sounds like two people actually singing independent tunes — it's the direct ancestor of the walking bass lines and instrumental countermelodies you'll write in this unit's later lessons.

You don't need to master centuries of species-counterpoint rules to use this productively today: the practical takeaway is a habit — before finalizing any harmony part, bass line, or countermelody, sing or play it alone and ask whether it holds up as its own melody. If it only makes sense stacked underneath the main line, it's accompaniment, not counterpoint — both are legitimate choices, but knowing which one you're writing is the point.