Exercise

Bass 256 — Sixth-chord stream in quarters, minor

Bass motions and sequencesE minor

Corpus id bass-256 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The minor stream at speed, running the natural scale from tonic to supertonic before the sharp gathers it into a cadence.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1				bar 2				bar 3				bar 4
Bass	E3				D3	C3	B2	A2	G2	F♯2	B2		E3
Figures					6	6	6	6	6	6	#

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

The model realization

4/4	bar 1	bar 2				bar 3			bar 4
Soprano	B4	B4	A4	G4	F♯4	E4	D4	D♯4	E4
Alto	G4	F♯4	E4	D4	C4	B3	A3	B3	B3
Tenor	E4	B3	C4	G3	A3	E3	F♯3	F♯3	G3
Bass	E3	D3	C3	B2	A2	G2	F♯2	B2	E3
Figures		6	6	6	6	6	6	#

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

The natural minor descent harmonized in sixths, at speed, through six degrees — and the close shows minor’s economy: the soprano that rode the stream down to D simply raises it, and the running line becomes a leading tone. The same tone, recruited; the same descent, cadenced.

At the keyboard

The three upper voices of the model realization fit under one hand. Every quarter note is in the key signature until the soprano lifts D to D sharp over the dominant — one semitone converts the whole descent into an arrival. Carry it into A minor, D minor.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-256 — Sixth-chord stream in quarters, minor. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-256

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-256

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