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Two voices moving in opposite directions — the strongest way to maintain voice independence.
Contrary motion is the gold standard of voice independence — when one voice goes up and the other goes down, they are maximally independent. Use it as much as possible in contrapuntal writing, especially at cadences where both voices should converge on consonances.
Bach's two-part Inventions — contrary motion is the primary technique for maintaining independence between the two voices.
Contrary motion is one of 228 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary, where every definition is written around how composers actually use the word.
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