Exercise

Bass 279 — Dominant ninth

Non-dominant seventhsC major

Corpus id bass-279 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The standalone dominant ninth — a chord, not a suspension: figured 9/7 over a moving bass, needing no resolution over its own bass, owing its fall to the next harmony.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4		bar 5		bar 6
Bass	C3		F3	G2	C3		E3	F3	G2		C3
Figures				9/7			6		9/7

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

The model realization

4/4	bar 1	bar 2		bar 3	bar 4		bar 5	bar 6
Soprano	E4	F4	F4	E4	G4	A4	A4	G4
Alto	C4	C4	B3	C4	C4	C4	B3	C4
Tenor	G3	A3	A3	G3	G3	F3	F3	E3
Bass	C3	F3	G2	C3	E3	F3	G2	C3
Figures			9/7		6		9/7

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

Here the convention changes under the student’s hands, and the corpus says so plainly: Stage 6’s 9 was a suspension — prepared, struck over a repeating bass, resolved to 8 before the harmony moved. This 9 is a chord. It stands over a bass that moves on, asks for no 8, and needs no preparation; what survives from the old law is the exit. The ninth, like the seventh sounding below it, falls one degree into the next harmony.

At the keyboard

This realization is choral — the upper voices exceed a single hand’s span. Two strikes, two voicings: first the ninth sits in the tenor, then on top where the later style loved it. Both times it falls a step into the tonic chord — never over its own bass. Carry it into G major, F major.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-279 — Dominant ninth. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-279

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-279

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