Exercise

Bass 246 — The V7 tour — all four figures, minor

Dominant seventh and inversionsA minor

Corpus id bass-246 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The tour in minor, where every position must account for the raised third: sharp beside the 7, plain under the leading-tone bass, ♯6 in the middle of the stack, ♯4 over the seventh.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4		bar 5
Bass	A2	E2	G♯2	B2	D3	C3	D3	E3	A2
Figures		7/#	6/5	#6/4/3	#4/2	6		#

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

The model realization

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4		bar 5
Soprano	C4	D4	D4	D4	E4	E4	F4	E4	E4
Alto	A3	G♯3	B3	G♯3	B3	A3	D4	B3	C4
Tenor	E3	E3	E3	E3	G♯3	A3	A3	G♯3	A3
Bass	A2	E2	G♯2	B2	D3	C3	D3	E3	A2
Figures		7/#	6/5	#6/4/3	#4/2	6		#

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

Minor’s tour is a lesson in notation as much as harmony: the raised third never changes pitch, but every position writes it differently, because figures count from the bass and the bass keeps moving. Learn the four spellings as one fact and the minor mode’s figuring loses its terror.

At the keyboard

The three upper voices of the model realization fit under one hand. One chord, four spellings of the same sharp. Follow G sharp through the figures: beside the 7, onto the staff, into the ♯6, into the ♯4 — the accidental moves through the stack as the bass moves through the chord. Carry it into E minor, D minor.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-246 — The V7 tour — all four figures, minor. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-246

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-246

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