Lesson with Sawdust

Yep exactly. And when the fifth is in the bass, it's a second inversion. Then with 7th (and 9th etc.) chords you can have more than just 2 inversions.

A quite common bass movement will lead to you using a couple of inversions in direct succession.
E.g.: In C major, the bass moves thus, C D E.
There are several ways of harmonizing this bass line. The common one involving some inversions would be: C (root), G (2nd inversion), C (1st inversion).
Second inversion chords aren't as common as first inversion chords. This is because the 4th between the bass note and the root note of the chord is a dissonance. In the example above, it is permissible, because it is a passing six-four (2nd inversion) chord. Fourths between the bass and an upper part are always dissonances, but not between any two upper parts.

Can you also use a major second (for seventh chords) as a passing chord?

Do you mean major second as in G dom.7th we have F against G?
That's really a 7th, because it's the root G against the 7th above, F.

I'm not quite sure what you mean with your question though.
In classical music and onwards, you can freely use the dissonance of the 7th etc. without preparation. (Preparing a dissonance is when the dissonant note is sounded in a previous harmony, where it is consonant, if you're getting what I'm saying).
So you can use a 7th chord freely, and it's not classified as passing. That really only counts for second inversion chords.
If you would like me to illustrate these points with music, then ask.

Thanks, but I think I get it, just wanted to know if you could put the seventh note below the root in the bass.

Yes, you can, that's the 3rd inversion of the 7th chord. And then I see what you mean about the major 2nd. It should resolve to a consonance, but like I say, after the baroque period, the use of the 7th chord etc. is rather free.
the 7th in the bass would often go to the third of the tonic chord.

I think I get it now, I was always under the impression that you could only put the root or the third in the bass, and that you always had to include the root in the chord.

I'd like you to now come up with a short melody for use in a little keyboard minuet you're going to write for me.

I think we can come back to harmonic analysis later; I'd much rather see you compose something and then work with it.

I want you to have a strong sense of implied harmony in this minuet, perhaps even write the intended chords of the harmony out alongside the melody. I only want up until the first repeat for now - and it is up to you where to modulate, but I would like you to modulate to the dominant before you reach the first repeat.

If you're not 100% sure on modulations, just write some sketches for a melody, and then I will discuss it with you.

No deadline, so please take your time

Sorry it took me so long to answer, I've been away for a few days. Here's the first draft, I like it but I think there's room for improvement.

That's a nice start, full of ideas which we can build from.
There are some problems with it though, so I'm going to suggest how to work with this material, and build from it our minuet.

First of all, I'm going to want you to condense this. It stands at 16 bars, and I would like it to be 8 bars. Sorry about this, but I feel that the condensing will allow you to have much more of a sense of purpose and direction in the music.
There are also some places where the harmony sticks out a bit, against the melody, but seeing as I only asked you to apply very general "chord per measure" style harmony, I can't really comment on this.

When reworking what you have here, I would like you to think not just in terms of "1 chord per measure", because while that may be an ok approach for broadly sketching it out, it is not sufficient for the finished thing... so harmonies should change within a bar, whenever they need to.

For example, look at that Bach minuet we started with - the harmony changes already within the first measure.
In a minuet, you might expect the harmony to change more in a bar, when dealing with a cadence - watch for examples of this, and try to emulate this in your own. ( a place where you could/should change the harmony in the bar is the last beat of measure 2)

The modulation, out of necessity, will be much shorter in your reworked version, and it does not have to be long, in a minuet. It does not have to be a strong modulation, because as soon as we reach V, we often repeat straight back into I territory, in a minuet's opening.

The last comment I'm going to make is about the form of your melody. Consider it carefully, so that the melody flows, and doesn't seem to end up on a note unnaturally. An example of where this happens is going from bars 2 to 3. The E from bar 2 wants to resolve to the F, and yet it is thwarted, by having to go to G. It further feels unnatural, because it is moving by leap.
I find it hard to put into words how one "feels" out a melody. An important part of it, though, is knowing when to have shorter note values on the strong beats of the bar. (your semiquavers and quavers for example).
To me, this is a matter of taste, and also one which the rules of counterpoint help with, but your sense of melody should develop with time.
I think, speaking very, very generally, it is better to have the faster note values on the last beat (or last 2 beats) of the bars, in 3/4. This "rule" can be contradicted to make contrasts.. but don't follow it strictly anyway.

Summary: You have a nice start to a minuet here. You have actually provided me with too much material (!) and so I would like you to condense it, to 8 bars (or thereabouts).
Watch for harmonic progression, and the shape of the melody, ensuring that they both are logical, and "flow" well.
I will provide my own suggestions to these 2 aspects, when I see your condensed version.
You have some interesting rhythmic, and melodic ideas, so I will be looking forward to seeing what can be done with them.


Remember, take your time! I would rather wait 2 weeks, and get a well turned out melody, than have something rushed in by tomorrow.
In fact, I don't want to see anything for at least half a week! So you must carefully plan out your harmonic structure, and have ample time to work with the melody et cetera.

P.s. Sorry for rambling!

Sorry for rambling!

Acctually, thanks for pointing everything out =). The melody did feel kinda "funny" overall, so I appreciate knowing why now. And to be perfectly honest, the harmony was ad hoced while writing the melody, which was done in 3 hours give or take. A very nasty habit of mine...

But I'll do things differently when reworking it.