I love where Youtube takes me! Just now, and I'm not sure how it happened, I ended up at the below video clip.
For those who have not discovered Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina before, he pre-dates Johann Sebastian Bach and is considered the ultimate composer in the style of Renaissance polyphony.
It is from Palestrina that our present system of music that's based on chords and chord notation would develop a few hundred years later.
What makes Palestrina's music all the more impressive is that it was written only by considering melodic movement and pairs of intervals between parts.
These intervals were classified as either concordant or discordant; that is, 'sounds good, resolved' and 'sounds unresolved, jars the senses'. Once such a classification was made, that then determined what needed to happen next to the two notes involved.
Much of this style of music was written without the aid of instruments and was composed for voices.
Gives me goosebumps. I was a chorister at Worcester College in Oxford (UK) as a child. I always love hearing choral church music (plain song etc). The famous Nicholas Cleobury was my choir master for a few years.
Here's a Youtube of Adoramus Te. I haven't sang this since 1985, but our madrigal director required us to memorize it, and I remembered about 75% of it.
Back in the day when I read Gradus Ad Parnasum by Johann Joseph Fux, which was ostensibly an attempt to create teach the style of Palestrina. It's a great text, and I'd highly recommend it to people interesting in learning counterpoint.
But like many music theory texts, it presented a stylized version of music rules that weren't really followed by composers.
Later, I read Counterpoint: The Polyphonic Vocal Style of the Sixteenth Century by Knud Jeppesen. This was similar in approach to the teaching style laid out by Fux, but was modeled on the actual music of Palestrina.
I plowed my way through it, but finally realized the obvious - you really need to know the style and idioms before learning how to compose in the style.
Since I tend to listen to more "classic" rock than 16th century counterpoint, I finally gave up that dream. Plus, there's a lot to learn! But still, if you're interested in learning the style, it's an excellent text.
Love it, thanks. I teach guitar to little ones and grown-up ones alike (with ambitious fingers that work too fast sometimes), so this becomes a great added resource to help 'resolve' the glazed look and the Wha-a-a? plea, whenever we discuss why something may sound good or not (using terms like discordant and resolved).
Songwriter, not Singer-Songwriter. Dropped singing in time to save a few friends and pets. Website: www.songmaker.ca
Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Windows Special Offers End Tomorrow (January 15th, 2026) at 11:59 PM PST!
Time really is running out! Save up to 50% on Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® upgrades and receive a FREE Bonus PAK—only when you order by 11:59 PM PST on Thursday, January 15, 2026!
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Another exciting new addition is the new AI-Notes feature, which can transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI. You can view the results in notation or play them back as MIDI, and choose whether to process an entire track or focus on specific parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®.
There's an amazing collection of new content too, including 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
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Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® Special Offers Extended Until January 15, 2026!
Good news! You still have time to upgrade to the latest version of Band-in-a-Box® for Windows® and save. Our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® special now runs through January 15, 2025!
We've packed Band-in-a-Box® 2026 with major new features, enhancements, and an incredible lineup of new content! The program now sports a sleek, modern GUI redesign across the entire interface, including updated toolbars, refreshed windows, smoother workflows, a new dark mode option, and more. The brand-new side toolbar provides quicker access to key windows, while the new Multi-View feature lets you arrange multiple windows as layered panels without overlap, creating a flexible, clutter-free workspace. We have an amazing new “AI-Notes” feature. This transcribes polyphonic audio into MIDI so you can view it in notation or play it back as MIDI. You can process an entire track (all pitched instruments and drums) or focus on individual parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's an amazing collection of new content too, including 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
There are over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®.
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: The Newly Designed Piano Roll Window
In this video, we explore the updated Piano Roll, complete with a modernized look and exciting new features. You’ll see new filtering options that make it easy to focus on specific note groups, smoother and more intuitive note entry and editing, and enhanced options for zooming, looping, and more.
Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: AI Stems & Notes - split polyphonic audio into instruments and transcribe
This video demonstrates how to use the new AI-Notes feature together with the AI-Stems splitter, allowing you to select an audio file and have it separated into individual stems while transcribing each one to its own MIDI track. AI-Notes converts polyphonic audio—either full mixes or individual instruments—into MIDI that you can view in notation or play back instantly.
Bonus PAK and 49-PAK for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®
With your version 2026 for Windows Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition or PlusPAK purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons for FREE! Or upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK for only $49 to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks!
These PAKs are loaded with additional add-ons to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box®!
This Free Bonus PAK includes:
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-For Pro customers, this includes 27 new RealTracks and 23 new RealStyles.
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MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
Playable RealTracks Set 5
RealDrums Stems Set 9: Cool Brushes
SynthMaster Sounds Set 1 (with audio demos)
Android Band-in-a-Box® App (included)
Looking for more great add-ons, then upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK for just $49 and you'll get:
20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyle.
FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
MIDI Styles Set 93: Look Ma! More MIDI 16: SynthMaster
MIDI SuperTracks Set 47: More SynthMaster
Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
RealDrums Stems Set 10: Groovin' Sticks
SynthMaster Sounds & Styles Set 2 (sounds & styles with audio demos)
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