Exercise

Bass 274 — The ♮ and ♯ together

Bare accidentals as figuresC minor

Corpus id bass-274 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The two hands side by side in one climb: a ♮ cancels the key’s E♭, a ♯ lifts B♭ to B♮ — different signs, the same grammar, one rising line.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1	bar 2	bar 3	bar 4
Bass	C3	F3	G3	C3
Figures		n	#

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

The model realization

4/4	bar 1	bar 2	bar 3	bar 4
Soprano	G4	A4	B4	C5
Alto	E♭4	F4	D4	E♭4
Tenor	C4	C4	G3	G3
Bass	C3	F3	G3	C3
Figures		n	#

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

Minor’s ascent to the tonic needs both its upper degrees raised, and in a flat key the two raisings are spelled differently: A♮ under the ♮ (the key’s flat canceled), B♮ under the ♯ (a semitone up from B♭). The soprano sings G, A♮, B♮, C — the melodic minor climb — while the signs beneath it demonstrate that notation serves the line, not the other way round.

At the keyboard

This realization is choral — the upper voices exceed a single hand’s span. Say each figure aloud before playing it: natural, sharp. The first cancels a flat the key put there; the second raises a flat the key put there. Both mean "the third, one semitone higher than you were told." Carry it into F minor, G minor.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-274 — The ♮ and ♯ together. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-274

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-274

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