Exercise

Bass 280 — Dominant ninth, minor

Non-dominant seventhsA minor

Corpus id bass-280 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The dominant minor ninth: the same 9/7 figures with minor’s dark second — the ninth a semitone over the root’s octave, prepared here by the subdominant and twice spent.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4		bar 5		bar 6
Bass	A2		D3		E3		A2		D3	E3	A2
Figures					9/7/#					9/7/#

The given bass and its figures (A minor, 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	F4	F4	E4
Alto	C4	D4	D4	C4	D4	D4	C4
Tenor	A3	A3	G♯3	A3	A3	G♯3	A3
Bass	A2	D3	E3	A2	D3	E3	A2
Figures			9/7/#			9/7/#

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

In minor the ninth is a minor ninth — F standing a dark semitone over the dominant’s octave — and the chord carries three obligations at once: the ninth falls to the fifth, the seventh falls to the third, the raised leading tone rises home. All three pay together at the bar line, which is why this sonority ends phrases in the minor mode with such finality.

At the keyboard

The three upper voices of the model realization fit under one hand. Strike it again; the ache does not dull. F against E, a ninth up — minor’s own second — while G sharp pulls the other way beneath it. Carry it into D minor, E minor.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-280 — Dominant ninth, minor. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-280

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-280

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