Exercise

Bass 251 — The chain of sevenths

Bass motions and sequencesA minor

Corpus id bass-251 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The chain of sevenths: add a seventh to every chord of the circle and the sequence becomes self-perpetuating — each seventh prepared by the chord before, resolving into the chord after.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4		bar 5
Bass	A2		D3	G2	C3	F3	B2	E3	A2
Figures			7	7	7	7	7	7/#

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	E4	F4	F4	E4	E4	D4	D4	C4
Alto	C4	C4	B3	B3	A3	A3	G♯3	A3
Tenor	A3	A3	G3	G3	F3	F3	E3	E3
Bass	A2	D3	G2	C3	F3	B2	E3	A2
Figures		7	7	7	7	7	7/#

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

Every seventh is prepared as a common tone from the chord before, strikes with the new root, and falls by step to become the third of the chord after — which has meanwhile acquired its own seventh the same way. The chords alternate complete and incomplete to keep the machine free of parallels, and the sharp joins the last link to spend the chain on the close.

At the keyboard

The three upper voices of the model realization fit under one hand. The right hand moves one finger at a time, alternating: alto falls, then soprano, then alto. The dissonance is passed finger to finger down the whole chain. Carry it into D minor, E minor.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-251 — The chain of sevenths. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-251

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-251

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