What is species counterpoint?
Counterpoint is the art of combining independent melodic lines. The species method, codified by Johann Joseph Fux in Gradus ad Parnassum (1725), teaches it in five graded stages — the same course of study Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven worked through.
In every exercise you are given a cantus firmus (a fixed melody in whole notes) and you compose a second line against it. Each species adds one new rhythmic freedom, and with it a new set of rules about consonance, dissonance, and motion.
The exercises here are the actual cantus firmi from Fux's book, and many levels let you compare your finished line with Fux's own solution.
How the trainer works
Compose on a piano roll. The cantus firmus appears as gray blocks on a horizontal timeline. Click to place notes, drag them to move in pitch and time, click again to delete — or play them in from a MIDI keyboard.
Get live feedback. A rule checker analyses your line as you write: rule violations ring notes in red, style warnings in amber, and the checklist shows exactly which rule was broken and where.
Listen and refine. Play both voices together (the cantus firmus gets its own timbre), audition each line alone, adjust the tempo, then submit for a score out of 100.
First SpeciesNote against note
BeginnerOne whole note in every measure — one of your notes against each cantus firmus note.
Level 1
Fig. 101D Dorian · 11 measures · write above the CF
Start Composing →Level 2
Fig. 12E Phrygian · 10 measures · write above the CF
Start Composing →Level 3
Fig. 14F Lydian · 12 measures · write above the CF
Start Composing →Level 4
Fig. 21G Mixolydian · 14 measures · write above the CF
Start Composing →Level 5
Fig. 23A Aeolian · 12 measures · write below the CF
Start Composing →Level 6
Fig. 118C Ionian · 12 measures · write above the CF
Start Composing →Second SpeciesTwo notes against one
IntermediateTwo half notes per measure against each whole note of the cantus firmus. The final measure is a single whole note.
Level 1
Fig. 35D Dorian · 11 measures · write below the CF
Start Composing →Level 2
Fig. 37E Phrygian · 10 measures · write below the CF
Start Composing →Level 3
Fig. 39F Lydian · 12 measures · write above the CF
Start Composing →Level 4
Fig. 41G Mixolydian · 14 measures · write above the CF
Start Composing →Level 5
Fig. 43A Aeolian · 12 measures · write below the CF
Start Composing →Level 6
Fig. 45C Ionian · 12 measures · write below the CF
Start Composing →Third SpeciesFour notes against one
IntermediateFour quarter notes per measure against each whole note of the cantus firmus. The final measure is a single whole note.
Fourth SpeciesSyncopation and suspensions
AdvancedHalf notes displaced by half a measure — struck on the weak half and held across the barline. The final measure is a whole note.
Fifth SpeciesFlorid counterpoint
ExpertA free mixture of whole, half, and quarter notes — everything you have learned, combined into a flowing line.
Level 1
Fig. 155D Dorian · 11 measures · write above the CF
Start Composing →Level 2
Fig. 158E Phrygian · 10 measures · write above the CF
Start Composing →Level 3
Fig. 85F Lydian · 12 measures · write above the CF
Start Composing →Level 4
Fig. 86G Mixolydian · 14 measures · write above the CF
Start Composing →Level 5
Fig. 87A Aeolian · 12 measures · write above the CF
Start Composing →Level 6
Fig. 88C Ionian · 9 measures · write above the CF
Start Composing →