simple diminution
Part I - Diminution with consonant intervals
Elaboration in the counterpointing voice can be consonant skips or step wise motion.
Fig.1 simple diminution
Notice that in the example, there are places where one voice moves and the other does not. This is still first species counterpoint.
Part II - diminution with dissonant intervals
The treatment of dissonance in the Baroque era always involves step wise motion. The dissonance always falls on or before the weak beat.
Fig.2 diminution with dissonant intervals.
Diminution with dissonant intervals falls into three categories: non-harmonic tones, suspensions, and chordal dissonance. Chordal dissonance is just a dissonant chord, such as a seventh chord.
Part III - suspensions
A suspension is an accented dissonance, or a dissonance that falls on an accented beat.
Part IV - Chordal dissonance
The use of seventh chords are the most common type of chordal dissonance during the Baroque era.
