Exercise

Bass 269 — The ♯ that demands a natural

Bare accidentals as figuresF minor

Corpus id bass-269 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The ♯ in a deep flat key: it means "a semitone up from the key," so over this dominant it demands E natural — a sharp figure whose product carries no sharp at all.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4
Bass	F2		D♭3	B♭2	C3		F2
Figures					#

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

The model realization

4/4	bar 1	bar 2		bar 3	bar 4
Soprano	F4	F4	F4	E4	F4
Alto	C4	D♭4	D♭4	C4	C4
Tenor	A♭3	A♭3	B♭3	G3	A♭3
Bass	F2	D♭3	B♭2	C3	F2
Figures				#

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

Four flats deep, the dominant still needs its leading tone, and the figure that asks for it is the same ♯ it has always been. The sign means "raise the third a semitone from the key" — here that lifts E♭ to E♮, a note that looks natural on the staff and functions as sharp as any leading tone in the book.

At the keyboard

The three upper voices of the model realization fit under one hand. Read the ♯ and play E natural. The sign names a distance, not a letter: one semitone up from the E flat this key supplies. Carry it into C minor, Bb minor.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-269 — The ♯ that demands a natural. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-269

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-269

Loading…