Exercise

Bass 282 — The seventh ladder

Non-dominant seventhsG major

Corpus id bass-282 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The ladder again in a new key, the seventh passed from voice to voice: tenor, alto, tenor — prepared, struck, and fallen three times before the dominant ends the process.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4
Bass	G3		B2	E3	A2	D3	G2
Figures			7	7	7

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

The model realization

4/4	bar 1	bar 2		bar 3		bar 4
Soprano	G4	F♯4	E4	E4	D4	D4
Alto	D4	D4	D4	C4	A3	B3
Tenor	B3	A3	G3	G3	F♯3	G3
Bass	G3	B2	E3	A2	D3	G2
Figures		7	7	7

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

The same ladder as before, voiced so the dissonance rotates through the inner voices: each seventh is the previous chord’s common tone, held while the bass strikes beneath it, then dropped one degree to become the next chord’s third. The voices alternate holding and falling — the chain of sevenths’ discipline, applied to the key’s quietest chords.

At the keyboard

The three upper voices of the model realization fit under one hand. Watch the seventh change hands: tenor at iii7, alto at vi7, tenor again at ii7. The obligation is passed like a weight — whoever holds it, falls. Carry it into C major, D major.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-282 — The seventh ladder. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-282

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-282

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