Exercise

Bass 257 — Falling thirds

Bass motions and sequencesEb major

Corpus id bass-257 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

Falling thirds: each chord keeps two tones of the one before, so the harmony changes color more than place — motion that gathers weight until a cadence spends it.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4
Bass	E♭3	C3	A♭2	F2	B♭2		E♭3

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

The model realization

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3	bar 4
Soprano	G4	G4	A♭4	A♭4	B♭4	B♭4
Alto	E♭4	E♭4	E♭4	F4	F4	G4
Tenor	B♭3	C4	C4	C4	D4	E♭4
Bass	E♭3	C3	A♭2	F2	B♭2	E♭3

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

I to vi to IV to ii, each join sharing two tones, the bass lowering the harmony’s foundation while most of the chord stands still. The chain itself never resolves anything — it accumulates subdominant weight, and the cadence that follows exists to spend it.

At the keyboard

The three upper voices of the model realization fit under one hand. Count what the hand keeps at each chord change: two fingers of three. Falling thirds are the gentlest journey in the key — until the dominant asks for payment. Carry it into Bb major, Ab major.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-257 — Falling thirds. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-257

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-257

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