Build a smooth upper melody over this rising lower line.
Prepare, tie, resolve & melody placement rules
Horizontal = movement within one melody. Vertical = the distance between the two notes sounding together. All +/− distances count semitones; note labels use the 1–12 system.
Prepare → Strong / Tie → Resolve / Prepare
Prepare
Vertical: choose a note consonant with the other voice.
Horizontal: choose a pitch you can hold into the next marked tie. You do not have to approach a preparation downward; the normal melodic rules still apply.
Strong / Tie
Horizontal: hold the exact previous pitch, including its octave. Do not replay it or choose a new note.
Vertical: the other melody changes while yours holds. The new pair may be dissonant, provided you prepared the held note consonantly and resolve it correctly afterward.
Resolve / Prepare
After a dissonant tie: move your melody down by −1 or −2, landing on a consonance with the other voice.
This new note does two jobs: it resolves the previous suspension and prepares the next tie when the chain continues.
If the tied pair remains consonant: no dissonance needs a downward resolution, so another consonant melodic move is possible. This is a consonant tie; it does not count toward a required dissonant suspension.
A complete suspension is consonant preparation → dissonant tie → consonant downward resolution. It may occur later in the challenge; it does not have to begin on Beat 1. Follow the challenge’s required number of suspensions.
What changes when you write the lower melody?
The dissonant tied note resolves downward in either voice. When the other voice holds, lowering the upper note shrinks the vertical gap; lowering the lower note widens it.
| Voice / distance | Prepare | Strong / Tie | Resolve / Prepare |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your upper | 8 | 8 tied | 6 |
| Given lower | 1 | 3 | 3 held |
| Vertical gap | +7 · consonant | +5 · dissonant | +3 · consonant |
Your upper melody resolves 8 → 6, down −2. The gap shrinks from +5 to +3.
| Voice / distance | Prepare | Strong / Tie | Resolve / Prepare |
|---|---|---|---|
| Given upper | 5 · octave 4 | 3 · octave 4 | 3 held · octave 4 |
| Your lower | 1 · octave 4 | 1 tied · octave 4 | 12 · octave 3 |
| Vertical gap | +4 · consonant | +2 · dissonant | +3 · consonant |
Your lower melody resolves 1 → 12 in the octave below, down −1. The gap widens from +2 to +3.
Rules that depend on placement
- Upper or lower voice: keep the upper melody above the lower melody. The game rejects voice crossing and exact same-pitch unisons; matching numbers in separate octaves are allowed.
- Vertical consonance: within one octave, separated-voice gaps of 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, or 12 are consonant. Add octaves for larger consonant intervals. A gap of 5 is a dissonant fourth in this two-voice game because it involves the bass. Gaps of 1, 2, 6, 10, and 11 are also dissonant.
- Read the actual octave: subtract lower pitch from upper pitch for the vertical gap. Do not wrap the distance around the 1–12 circle: +7 and +5 are different intervals.
- Ordinary strong positions: must be consonant. A properly prepared, tied suspension is the strong-beat exception in the tie and mixed-rhythm challenges.
- Weak positions: in Hard and mixed-rhythm Expert, a dissonant passing or neighbor note must be approached and left by ±1 or ±2 between consonances. Continue in the same direction for a passing tone; return to the preceding pitch for a neighbor tone. A position marked Resolve / Prepare must complete its suspension correctly.
- Opening: Beginner requires consonance. Medium and Hard require a perfect fifth or octave family interval. Expert permits any consonant preparation.
- Ending: Medium–Expert require matching note numbers in separate octaves. Your written melody approaches by ±1 or ±2, moving opposite the given melody, or while the given melody holds.
- Direct perfect intervals: Medium–Expert check the actual upper voice, even when you write the lower one. If both voices move in the same direction into a fifth or octave and the upper voice leaps more than 2 semitones, change the approach.
- Both placements: avoid parallel perfect fifths and octaves. Favor steps of ±1 or ±2 within your melody. Medium–Expert also check leaps larger than 7, repeated large leaps in one direction, a range wider than an octave, and melodic independence.
These explain the current game’s checks. Traditional fourth-species exercises can impose additional restrictions on suspension types and opening and ending formulas.
Upper voice · lower octave
Upper voice · higher octave
Choose an exact octave. “Move” measures from the previous upper note; “Vertical” measures from the sounding lower note. All distances count semitones. Use Lower or Higher to shift both rows.