Hello! This week marks the first day of spring, and after the snowstorm we just experienced here in Colorado a few days ago, I'm ready!

In the Practical Counterpoint course, we are continuing our exploration of so-called "species counterpoint". This is a subject that is often taught with little or no reference to any actual context, making it seem like an abstract concept with no relevance to real music. My aim is always to focus on the practical value of the theory, and species counterpoint is no exception. Even if you're not enrolled in the course, I think you'll find this week's article on suspensions (see below) useful!

Mastering MuseScore

If you are interested in getting the most out of the world's most popular music notation software, join our community with a Mastering MuseScore membership for the most comprehensive training & expert support available!

MuseScore Café

This week in the MuseScore Café with Marc Sabatella, we continue our third-Wednesday "score of the month" series. I take a piece of music - in this case, a two-voice Renaissance motet - and enter it into MuseScore, explaining everything I do along the way.

The free MuseScore Café is live on Wednesday at 12:30 PM Eastern (16:30 GMT, or 17:30 during the winter months), and you can access past episodes in the archive.

Tip of the Week

MuseScore can create notes with durations from 1/1024th to double and even quadruple whole notes. The double whole note in particular is used often in Renaissance music, but by default, MuseScore does not show very long or very short note values on the toolbar, so it isn't obvious how to create them. In this video post, I show you how to create a double whole note and how to add buttons for this and other note values to your toolbar.

Musicianship

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Music Master Class

This week in the Music Master Class with Marc Sabatella, we'll be looking at more species counterpoint exercises and discussing the material from Practical Counterpoint.

The free Music Master Class is live on Thursday at 12:30 PM Eastern (16:30 GMT, or 17:30 during the winter months), and you can access past episodes in the archive.

In Theory

The suspension is one of the keys to creating interesting counterpoint - a device that practically guarantees some amount of rhythmic independence, syncopation, and tension/release, all rolled into one. It can be a bit complicated to explain what a suspension is and how it works, but it can also be surprisingly easy to actually construct one. In this video post, I demonstrate a simple technique for creating suspensions that you can apply in your music right away.