Given melody

Melody 6 — Melody half close (second key)

Diatonic MelodiesG majorharmonize downward

Corpus id melody-6 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

An antecedent that leaps up, sighs down by step, and stops on 2̂ is asking for the half cadence: the phrase ends on V, open, waiting for its answer.

The given melody

4/4	bar 1	bar 2	bar 3	bar 4	bar 5	bar 6
Soprano	B4	E5	D5	C5	B4	A4

The given melody — harmonize it downward (G major, 4/4; ⌒ = tied from the previous note)

Write the bass, the figures and the inner voices beneath it. Sing the line first; sketch the bass alone against it; add the figures your bass implies; fill the inner voices last.

The model harmonization

4/4	bar 1	bar 2	bar 3	bar 4	bar 5	bar 6
Soprano	B4	E5	D5	C5	B4	A4
Alto	D4	E4	G4	E4	G4	F♯4
Tenor	B3	G3	B3	C4	D4	D4
Bass	G3	C3	G3	A3	G3	D3

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

The exercise ends on the dominant by design — a half close, the phrase left open. The leading tone arrives in the alto on the final chord and simply sounds there; its resolution belongs to the consequent phrase the student should feel compelled to write.

At the keyboard

This realization is choral — the upper voices exceed a single hand’s span. Carry it into F major, D major.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, melody-6 — Melody half close (second key). v1.1. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/melody-6

Corpus v1.1 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/melody-6

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