Exercise

Bass 261 — Half-diminished seventh

Minor-mode specificsD minor

Corpus id bass-261 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The half-diminished seventh on the second degree — minor’s own pre-dominant, its seventh prepared as a common tone and falling onto the raised third of V.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4
Bass	D3		F3	G3	E3	A3	D3
Figures			6		7	#

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

The model realization

4/4	bar 1	bar 2		bar 3		bar 4
Soprano	F4	A4	G4	G4	E4	F4
Alto	D4	D4	D4	D4	C♯4	D4
Tenor	A3	A3	B♭3	B♭3	A3	A3
Bass	D3	F3	G3	E3	A3	D3
Figures		6		7	#

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

The half-diminished seventh is minor’s native pre-dominant: every tone diatonic, the figure a plain 7. Its seventh enters as a held common tone — the old preparation discipline — and its obligation is spent perfectly: D falls by semitone onto C♯, the very tone the dominant’s ♯ demands. One voice’s fall manufactures the other figure’s promise.

At the keyboard

The three upper voices of the model realization fit under one hand. The alto holds one D through four chords, then falls a half step. The whole exercise exists for that one semitone — the seventh of iiø7 becoming the leading tone’s neighbor. Carry it into A minor, G minor.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-261 — Half-diminished seventh. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-261

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-261

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