From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
In music theory, contrary motion is the general movement of two melodic lines or pitches in opposite directions. For example, in one melodic line a note moving to another of a higher pitch, a second line in contrary motion would have this note moving to another of a lower pitch at the same time.
The concept of contrary motion is important in the analysis of musical themes. To create a variation of a certain theme, one technique is to subject the theme to make it move in contrary motion to the original.
