ABSTRACT
Counterpoint in three or more voices is a little different in style and technique than that in two voices. The main distinctions, obviously, are in texture and harmony. The fuller texture may lead to a slight simplification of line, a reduction in range, and a lessening of the microrhythmic activity. Direct octaves and fifths can be found in three-voice counterpoint, but they rarely involve both outer voices. Direct octaves and fifths sound best when one voice moves by step. Long passages of unbroken three-voice texture are to be avoided in order to reserve the fullest texture for the final section. Rests usually precede the entrance of a voice that carries the thematic material. A voice often drop out at or just before an internal cadence and reenter immediately thereafter as a means of weakening cadential finality and insuring rhythmic continuity and thematic overlap.
