1st species isn't that hard!

Just because you see two staves instead of one, do not be afraid.
Two part species are people, too!

Most of the unbreakable Hard Rules of 1st species share the basic ideas of guidelines for two-part species. If you think about it, they make sense!

Let's talk about singing.
I'm not a good singer- I cannot sing songs like La Traviata (below link)


Look at this. They go up and down and all the way up, leaping here and there, and it's amazing how they can sing such a high range piece. My vocal chords would not do that.












Now, the music in Renaissance era is mostly church music, sung by monks in Mass. Do you think they can sing like these opera singers? Imagine drunk monks singing so many skips and leaps in a row...

They will look something like this.

So comes hard rules:
Skips of augmented and diminished intervals, and skips larger than a sixth are prohibited.
Skips must account for less than half the melodic motions

Giant leaps might kill you.

Think about our life- How do you go about moving from one direction to the other?

We WALK. Step by Step.

We don't leap all the way over to school.

Same applies to the music- use steps frequently! Music will not only be easier to be sung, but also sound better! 

Steps are good for your health.

Too many leaps will tire you out, so whenever you leap, try to balance out with some step wise motion.

Now, guess what this is!

Yes. This is Bee-Flat. 

and Bb is the only accidental you want to see! (except in case of modulation, then it's Eb)

Think about all the letter names- Is there any other letter names that you could create puns? Are thoes puns something you can possibly squish flat besides "bee"? No. We have no option. We can only make Bee's flat.

Speaking of letters, let's talk about consonants!

Yes, you guys all know what consonants are in alphabets..

What I want to talk about is Korean consonants!

Let me give you a quick Korean lessons-

The korean letters are formed by combining consonants and vowels.

As you can see from the chart, you must form letters with consonant FIRST, and then vowels.
The letter will be incomplete without consonant in front of the vowels.
There is even a place holder consonant in Korean alphabet that doesn't make any sound, just so you can    put consonants in front of the vowels.

Consonants First!
This is another hard rule for First species: All downbeats must be consonant.
Also, counterpoints must begin and end with perfect consonants between the two parts.
Now you learned a little bit about Korean and First species.

As I'm writing this posts, I'm getting hungry- do you all have favorite food?
I love rice. I also love beef.

But could you eat the same meal over and over?
Maybe-with different spices, different cooking method- you could change it up.

What if you had to eat rice and beef over and over with same spices and cooking method?

Boring.

Same with first species-
Direct repetition of the whole contrapuntal combination is forbidden, and only two sequential repetitions are allowed.
Repeated notes in the counterpoint may not occur against repeated notes in the CF.
It's just too many same things..boooring.

Imagine what you would like to eat on daily basis- have some variety, but not too extreme that it will make you sick.

Translate what you would want in your life into your counterpoint!
Then, everything should start making sense :)