Workshop 107 — Composing Inner Voices and Counterpoint: Making the Middle of the Texture Carry Meaning Instead of Merely Filling Chords

Workshop 106 focused on the bass as an independent melodic force.

Now we move to the layer between bass and melody:

the inner voices.

This is where arrangements and compositions often become either:

• alive and connected

or:

• thick and static.

Many pianists think of middle notes as:

“whatever completes the chord.”

That is usually the wrong mindset.

A much more musical approach is:

Every important inner voice should behave like a quiet melody.

The central lesson is:

Do not fill the space between bass and melody with chord tones. Write lines through that space.