Focal Point

<p>A few questions arose regarding common-practice western

counterpoint:</p>

<ol>

<li>Should accented passing tones (e.g., on the downbeat of a bar in

compound meter) be used in species II counterpoint?

<li>Should passing tones only be used as stepwise transitions between

distinct consonant intervals? In my manual (Benjamin), this is the case

for most types of non-chord tones. But in music written in this style, I

quite commonly find consecutive passing tones on the same beat (e.g. as

subdivisions of the beat). For example: the tonic chord is C major; G-F-E

are all played within one beat; G is a chord tone, E is a chord tone, and

F is a passing tone. This is clearly a passing tone. But what if we had

G-F-E-D-C? Here, G, E, and C are chord tones, while F and D are passing

tones.

</ol>

<p>In short, the question is: can passing tones be used consecutively

as part of a scale-like passage, and is there a limit to how many such

tones can be used? Is this permissible in strictly species II

counterpoint?</p>