Counterpoint was the earliest form of artistic musical composi tion. It was the outgrowth of the simplest attempts of two sing ers to sing together without producing discordant effects. In Counterpoint then, we are primarily concerned with the movement of voices or parts, and the student should endeavor from the begin ning to accustom himself to follow each part in its movement, to think, so to say, horizontally, instead of thinking as in Harmony, perpendicularly. It is to be remembered too, that Counterpoint is primarily a series of consonances, dissonances being introduced only under careful restrictions. There are three most important principles to be observed in all writing of Counterpoint.