Yesterday I completed project 11 where my task was to first compose a contrapuntal counter melody for the examples given on the OCA student handbook. (1.)
I used the principle of contrary motion for this example. This meant that where the first melody was moving – the second melody would remain steady and vice versa for the whole first phrase and half the second phrase. the counter melody was strictly mathematical. I used the sub-divisions of each beat to write the counter melody. For example the dotted crotchet at the start of the melody line housed 3 quavers (as performed in the second melody line.) As a general rule anytime the melody increased in pitch, the counter melody would decrease. The articulation between the two is also slightly different. I employed the use of phrase marks regularly in the first line to make the piece very legato and smooth, where as, in contrast the second line varies between staccato and tenuto.
David Healy-Richards Music 