Exercise

Bass 229 — Suspension 9–8

SuspensionsG major

Corpus id bass-229 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The 9–8 suspension: the heaviest of the upper-voice suspensions, striking a ninth over the new bass and falling to the octave it had displaced.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4
Bass	G3		C3	C3	D3		G2
Figures			9	8

The given bass and its figures (G major, 4/4; ⌒ = tied from the previous note)

The model realization

4/4	bar 1	bar 2		bar 3	bar 4
Soprano	D5	D5	C5	A4	B4
Alto	B4	G4	G4	F♯4	G4
Tenor	D4	E4	E4	D4	D4
Bass	G3	C3	C3	D3	G2
Figures		9	8

The model realization (G major, 4/4; ⌒ = tied from the previous note)

The D is prepared as the fifth of the tonic and held while the bass moves to C beneath it — a ninth, resolving down to the octave. Because its resolution doubles the bass, the texture at the strike gives the ninth root, third and fifth below it and never the octave already sounded elsewhere: that tone is exactly what the suspension is withholding.

At the keyboard

The three upper voices of the model realization fit under one hand. At the strike the ninth has the bass alone to resolve against — no other voice may sound the C it is about to become. Carry it into C major, D major.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-229 — Suspension 9–8. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-229

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-229

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