Note Against Note

Counterpoint First Species Cantus Firmus Voice Leading Parallel Fifths and Octaves

Note against note is the plainest form of counterpoint: two voices advancing together, one note to one note.

Both voices change pitch at every step — no displacement, no passing notes, no differing lengths.

Its value: reducing the variables to a minimum

Polyphonic writing normally juggles several things at once — vertical consonance, horizontal lines, rhythmic displacement, foreign notes. Note against note removes most of them:

Variable	State in note-against-note writing
note values	identical in both voices
rhythmic displacement	absent
foreign notes	absent (every note is a chord tone)
vertical relation	must be checked at every step — the only difficulty left

So it is the first step of counterpoint training (see first species): make "is the interval right at this step" automatic before layering on rhythmic complexity.

The essential difference from homophonic writing

This is often missed: note against note sounds close to block chords, but the thinking is opposite.

	Note against note (polyphonic)	Block chords (homophonic)
Starting point	two lines	one chord
Test	does each line work sung alone?	do the chords connect well?
Constraint when changing	each voice moves itself to a good place	voices are arranged by function

Their notes can be identical, yet the order of thought is reversed. Note against note asks you first "where does this line want to go next", and only then "what interval do the two lines make".

Where it is actually used

It is not only an exercise. It appears in two places in real music:

Dense harmonic passages — all voices changing together into a thick polyphony (the strict four-part writing

of hymn settings);

Tight passages in fugues and canons — to squeeze the entries closer, the texture temporarily becomes note

against note.

Diagram: simultaneous change, two lines

Listen: the quality of the vertical relation

Note against note needs two voices, and this site cannot play them — so interval demonstrates the vertical interval of one step, which is the only thing this texture must check. For the actual simultaneous effect, use the instances (the opening entries of a two-part invention are the shortest).

Common misconceptions

"Note against note is just block chords." The notes can match, but the order of thought is reversed: one

starts from lines, the other from chords.

"It is too simple to be worth practising." Simple in variables, hard because nothing can be hidden — one

error is immediately audible.

"Simultaneous change means no foreign notes." True of the strict exercise; real writing may add passing

notes, at which point you have entered second-species territory.

"It is only an exercise." Strict four-part hymn writing and the tight passages of fugues use exactly this

texture. :::

Listen in the library

Invention 1C11:03Bach's first two-part invention — the opening entries are almost note against note, the closest thing to this textureDetailsSound Ye the Trumpet CallC10:35An organ hymn — block-chord **homophonic** writing, a direct contrast with the **polyphonic** note-against-note textureDetailsScales, Arpeggios, and CadencesC13:22Scale and cadence exercises move in one note value throughout, making "same rhythm, different lines" audibleDetails

All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).

Sources

单音对位指两声部以一音对一音的时值关系结合，属对位学通则
单音对位作为对位训练的第一阶段（第一类对位）的基础形态，为通行对位教学表述

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.

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